A New World
by Wanderer D
Summary: A group of humans have been captured and turned into Pokemon! What fate awaits them? Written with other authors for kicks and as a break from our usual fare. Changed the rating for some references. Also, first mini-arc is finally done!
1. Chapter 1

**A New World: Chapter 1**

**By**

**WYLD STALLYNZ**

The cheerful chirping of Galvantulas would have put anyone on edge except for the Pokemon Trainer, Dice, who was currently moaning in pain on the snowy floor just outside of a factory.

"T-those bastards!" he groaned as he tried, unsuccessfully, to stand. "I told them! I told them not to put so much garlic in the pizza!"

He finally managed to push himself to his knees, his breath visible in the cold air. "There's no way I'm catching a Pokemon in this condition..." he coughed as he stood up slowly and glared at the factory while rubbing his arms through the thick black and grey jacket that he had the foresight to put on. Not that he really needed to be warmer, but looking around at the snow-covered floor made him feel cold regardless.

For a moment, he bemoaned his fate at having decided to come to Harburg after his brief visit to his hometown and parents.

He had originally wandered out into the world to become a Pokemon Trainer, but his luck hadn't been the best, and his studies were as relevant to his chosen lifestyle as an anvil was to an airplane pilot.

Therefore, it had taken some time for him to actually get his Pokemon Trainer permit and Pokedex. He had been a Pokemon Watcher for a few years before deciding to become a Trainer for little over three years now. He had no Badges to his name due to constant wandering and a chronic foot-in-the-mouth disease that had put him at a complete disadvantage with Trainers of the opposite sex.

Tonight, he had left home with empty Pokeballs by mistake. A mistake -he would like to remind himself - he wouldn't have made had his parents not taken his Pokemon into custody because he had returned from one of his travels covered in tree sap and muttering about suicidal little Ponytas in spelunking gear.

But that was all in the past. Tonight, he had set out to catch a Galvantula, or maybe, if he was unlucky, a Koffing or a Pikachu. But it wasn't meant to be, as dinner had been... difficult.

With a sigh and another groan, he started making his way towards the center of town when the sound of an airplane passing overhead made him blink. "Wait, why are they flying at night?" He looked up and tried to locate the airplane, then shrugged after a moment of futile searching. "Meh, not my problem."

He looked down at the white feather that hung from a cord around his neck. "Come on, Lugia, give me strength!" He took a deep breath, before pumping his fist into the air. "I will be the very best! Like no-one ever was!" he stumbled back. "Okay. Okay. Note to self, never trust sailors when they say they're all drinking water." He sniffed the air. "And find out who's been..." his head suddenly swam, as his eyesight darkened. "... farting..."

As he blacked out, a lone figure walked up behind him, wearing a gas mask. After looking down at Dice, who was passed out with his face on the snow and gravel, slowly drooling away, the figure nodded and motioned with his hand. Soon, two more masked individuals walked up to them. The first figure nodded at the unconscious Dice, and the pair picked him up without further prompting.

.o.O.o.

Moonstone sighed to himself as he walked along the snow-covered streets, his shoes crunching the snow down. He was in Harburg, the large city that was built only a couple of miles away from his hometown, Riven. Riven was known for its friendly community, and for its many small streams. Small as it was, many trainers passed through after going to the gym in Harburg, wanting to get away from all of the smog and pollution, and relax by one of the streams with their Pokemon, soaking their feet. Moonstone had heard so many tales that he knew all of the major trainers in this city by heart, just from hearing so many stories.

Moonstone looked up as he saw several planes flying around above the sky, and wondered out loud, "What's going on? Who uses airplanes in a place like this? There are plenty of flying Pokem... Duh... The pollution is probably too bad for flying Pokemon to be able to breathe well. But still... Is it just me, or is the smog getting denser?"

Moonstone started to cough, and he quickly covered his mouth with his sleeve, hoping it would help. Sadly, it didn't, at least not by much. He fell to one knee, his vision starting to waver, but not before he noticed several people in gas masks and weird suits talking to each other. "D-Damn it!" His lungs felt like they were on fire, and his entire body felt like it was trapped in ice. Finally, he passed out as his muscles also started to burn...

.o.O.o.

Blade dodged back, barely avoiding his opponent's almost invisible moves. His eyes narrowed as the other fighter fell back into a relaxed stance, right arm slowly moving back and forth.

"Damned Flicker Jabs..." Blade muttered as he searched for an opening. His opponent had greater reach and was faster, even if he was not as strong as Blade. However, several hits had already landed on Blade and he sported whip-like marks on his arms from the snapping punches he had managed to block.

Blade took a calming breath. All he needed was a single punch to get through. Lowering down a bit he suddenly shot forth, arms raising as his opponent immediately shot another jab at him.

Blade didn't even bother dodging. The impact on his arms left a stinging sensation, but it was nothing to an experienced fighter like himself.

Another Flicker Jab, and then, suddenly Blade was right under his opponent's guard, smiling viciously at him at the same time his left fist dug into his opponent's liver.

The taller fighter had attempted a desperate uppercut, but all motions ceased as the full impact of Blade's fist registered in his body. He started to bend down in pain, but Blade stepped in, quick punches raining on his opponent's chest and shoulders, completely opening his defense.

With the sharp instincts of a martial artist and sensing the weakness of the other fighter, Blade's left leg shot back as he threw his momentum forward and up, the base of his palm impacting with a snap on the other man's jaw.

He remained in that position as his opponent crumbled to the ground, completely knocked out.

Blade's eyes closed as he took a deep breath and released it. "I have won," he said.

The crowd exploded into clapping and shouts as the referee walked in and pulled his hand up in victory.

Soon enough, with the money from the fight in his pocket, and ignoring other challenges, he emerged into the cool night air and looked up at the stars. With a slight shake of his head, he looked towards the city, where he was sure he could find a good bar at which to spend his hard-earned money.

He started walking, slowly relaxing as he left the stress of fighting behind. It was then that he noticed a strange smell. Before he knew it he had taken a deep breath as his brain tried to recognize what the smell was. Covering his mouth he coughed and stumbled, dropping his money to the floor as his eyes lost focus and his balance was completely lost.

Struggling to remain standing, he turned around, trying to make his way back to the warehouse where the underground tournament was taking place, but he couldn't make it past five steps before everything went black.

.o.O.o.

Sage stumbled down the sidewalk, oblivious to the elements in his drug-induced haze. The world swam before him, waves moving back and forth as he tried to walk in a line. He had a wide grin on his face as he paused to look at a warehouse wall. "Woah... That's like, totally radical! A Mew? Hey there little guy, like, wanna go to a righteous party with me? It'll be legendary, bro..."

He blinked owlishly, coughing a little before waving his hand in front of his nose, trying to waft the gas away. "Dude, there's like, no reason to pass gas like that, bro. That's like... Eh, whatever. If you can't help it, then, like, you can't help it, Bro..."

Leaning against the wall as he started to pass out, he slurred, "Just follow me to the party, okay? It'll like, totally be worth it..."

Even while unconscious, Sage had a wide smile on his face as he was hefted up to a large truck, and dumped unceremoniously inside.

.o.O.o.

Wave was simply walking, looking at all of the tall buildings in wonder. It always amazed her how close to the sky some of them seemed to be. There weren't any buildings that tall where she came from.

She stopped by a building with a flashy, neon sign and looked at it curiously. 'Should I go in here?' She thought to herself. 'On second thought... I need to get to a Pokemon Center right away. I need to heal my Pokemon first, then I can sight see.'

Wave took out her map and looked it over carefully. 'Here's where I am now... so I need to go over here.' She ran a hand through her long, blond hair as she tucked the map back into her bag and started off towards the Pokemon Center.

After a few minutes, she realized that she was lost. It wasn't surprising, since she had a horrible sense of direction; even with a map she was known to get lost.

"Oh crap..." she said, looking around. "Why didn't I turn around and go down that other street when I knew this was the wrong way?"

Wave was in a dark, dirty alley now, and she was thoroughly confused about where she was. "Now what do I do?" She heard a scratching noise and whirled around. "It's probably just a Rattata or something..." she tried to convince herself, but she couldn't see any deeper into the alley.

"I'm getting out of here..." Wave started to back up, but her foot caught on a large rock behind her and she landed on her butt. "Ouch..." The scratching noise started up again, and Wave gasped as it seemed to be louder this time.

She tried to stand up quickly, but she suddenly noticed a strange smell. Wave stopped and tried to figure out what the smell was, her nose wrinkling in disgust.

"Rotten eggs?" She murmured out loud, suddenly feeling sleepy. "Wha-?" She fell over and the last thing she thought before she passed out was, 'Why didn't I go down the right street?'

.o.O.o.

"Stupid... freakin' boss... keep me this late. They don't pay me overtime, you dick..." Cassie swore under her breath, running her hands up and down beneath her jacket in a futile attempt to warm herself.

She leaned heavily against the steel pole of the bus stop, half-expecting that, come morning, they'd find her there, a frigid popsicle of a human being.

"Stupid cold... last time I listen to the weather... they don't know shit..." she mumbled miserably, coughing slightly as a fog swirled about her ankles, a distinctly sulfurous smell filling her nostrils. "And apparently a sewer line broke... great."

Her coughs and hacks grew worse as the fog swirled higher and higher about her, the buildings down the street disappearing into the mist. Then she saw a pair of lights cutting through the fog.

"Finally!" she cried out, inadvertently sucking in the fog, leaving her brain swimming as she stepped out to meet what she believed to be the bus.

By the time the lights had arrived and a pair of gas-masked men had stepped from what was revealed to be a small truck, Cassie was passed out in the gutter.

.o.O.o.

"Hurry up you maggots!" a large, cloaked figure ordered through a walkie-talkie. "Pick up the stragglers and get a move on! We have experiments to run immediately! Make sure that any observers are neutralized, then get back to base! Edge out!"

The grunts finished their job swiftly under the night sky, the darkness hiding their heinous deeds...

.o.O.o.

Moonstone was the first to awaken, his entire body throbbing in pain. For the first five minutes, he couldn't even look around, the pain too excruciating to even try to move. As it slowly faded, he slowly opened his eyes to look around. He blinked a few times to remove the haze, finally getting a good look at the room. He could see that he was trapped in a stainless steel cage, devoid of any decorations. Looking past, he could see a wall lined with more steel cages, though they were all empty.

He winced as another rush of pain hit him, causing him to lower his head down onto his arms, riding out the pain. Breathing heavily, he opened his eyes again slowly, before they flew wide open in shock, a startled scream breaking the silence as he exclaimed, "B-blue fur... T-there's blue fur on my hands and arms! What's going on?"

Dice slowly opened her eyes as someone shouted something about not having been able to shave. She groaned and looked around, trying to find the source of the shouts. Her hand went to her head as she groaned. "Dude, it's okay to be furry once in a while... you can shave later... just... stop shouting, okay? My head hurts!"

Moonstone paused, surprised that he wasn't alone in the room anymore. "Hello? Wait, is there someone else in here? Do you know what's going on? Why am I covered in blue fur? Wait, calm down, Moonstone... Gotta be calm if you want to escape..." Taking a long, slow breath, he released it, asking in as calm a voice as he could manage, "Sorry about that, Miss. My name is Moonstone Scifo, but you can call me Moon for short. And you would be?"

"Dice," Dice said. "And you can call me Dice, everyone I know does. Everyone else calls me 'hey you!' or 'A-hole!'" Dice pushed herself up. "... wait... is this my voice? I- but... how? It's so... girly!" Dice's eyes went wide as she looked down at herself. "Oh for the love of Lugia... holy crap."

Gone were her hands with the pink fingers; there were no more legs under her... her long neck looked around her new body with amazing ease. She had a body shaped slightly like a small plane of some sort, with jet-like wings covered in small and really soft purple feathers. She had heard about this before... she was a Pokemon! She was a Latias! "This is so cool!" then she remembered. "Oh sh-" her head looked down. "I'm... I'm a girl! Do you hear me, Moonstone? I'm a freaking girl! I don't have-! Or a- damn it!"

Moonstone's eyes bugged out a little, before he started laughing so hard he was coughing. "A-are you serious? That..." After breaking down in another fit of laughter, he cleared his throat, trying not to antagonize his fellow prisoner further. "So you're saying that you were a guy, and now you're a girl? Well, that's certainly, um, interesting..." Moonstone stopped talking as he felt something move behind him, freezing in place as he tried to figure out what it was. Turning his head slowly, he gaped at the tail now coming out of his butt. It was long, slim, and blue, splitting off into two near the tip, causing it to fork. His eyes quickly roamed the rest of his body, seeing that he was standing on four paws, with a feline body. His brain short-circuited, trying to comprehend a new load of data. 'I... A tail? And paws?'

"_What the heck happened to me?" _he freaked out, starting to run in circles, his eyes wide open, but promptly tripped and fell down on his side. "I've turned into a Pokemon?"

"Were you male originally?" Dice asked. "Because if you were, you got lucky." She looked down at herself. "If I was going to be turned into a female Pokemon, why didn't they turn me into a Gardevoir? Those Pokemon are BABES!" Dice sighed, and looked at herself once more. "Well, I think I'm pretty sexy for a Latias! Ooooh purple feathers... wait... you're not a Latios, right? We're not supposed to... you know... I mean, your voice is nice and all, but I barely know you! And I- I'm not that type of Pokegirl..."

"HELL NO!" Moonstone quickly retorted, his face going red from anger, as well as embarrassment. "Wait a second... Did you say Latias? You're a legendary pokemon? Lucky bastard! I'm just a... I still can't tell what I am! It's hard to tell, what with blue fur! I dont know of any pokemon with blue fur!" Growling to himself, he thought for a moment, before asking, "Wait a second, did you say you had purple feathers? I thought that they were supposed to have red feathers..." Lost in thought, he put his paw to his head, trying to think back on the facts he knew, to better analyze what happened.

"Well... maybe I am a _different_ Latias." Dice challenged, her hands checking her body out. "I'm classy! And... oh... wait, that feels good. Ahem, never mind. What if I was always a Latias and was transformed into a human male to hide me from other Pokemon? Maybe I'm a Princess Latias!"

"... Yeah, sure, let's go with that," Moonstone replied, rolling his eyes. 'Whatever helps you stay sane, dude...' he thought to himself.

"Okay, I can hear you are not convinced... and I can see why... but... this is how I cope with things, okay? It's either that or I burst into tears and destroy the building with my newfound awesome powers!"

"What can I say, I'm a scientist and inventor, so sorry if I sound a little sceptical. I'm fairly certain I wasn't born a..." feeling around his head, Moonstone felt a circular globe in the middle of his forehead, triggering his memory. "An espeon. I'm pretty sure i wasn't born a blue Espeon. And don't do something stupid like that, okay? We need to think things through! Think, what... Okay, wait a sec, let's start at the beginning. What's the last thing you remember? Did you black out as well? Were you outside?"

"The... last thing I remember..." Dice closed her eyes. "Yes... I remember... pizza... and garlic... and a fart..."

"... A fart? Seriously? Joy... Wait, a fart? So you're saying that there was a strange smelling gas, right?" he replied, starting to get an idea of what might have happened.

"Well, yes, if you want to be all proper about it..." Dice sighed. "I was trying to catch a new Pokemon, but I got sick... I remember... an airplane, I think? And... then I got sleepy after smelling something."

"An airplane? Yeah, that... Okay! That's it! That must have been a part of what caused this then! I also heard airplanes over the city right before I smelled the gas and passed out. The gas must have made up pass out, and then... _Something_ happened to turn us into Pokemon! We just have to figure out what, and then we can reverse the process, in theory, and then everything will be fine! We have to break out of here first though... Any ideas?"

"Okay... let me think... uh... I- I don't know, to be completely honest the only thing I know about Latias are very specific things, nothing more than her types and that they were rumored to reside around Alto Mare... My only contact with them is the one drawing I did from a post card of the statues... I don't even know what powers they have... are we alone? Isn't there anyone else?"

"I have no idea... Regardless, we should get out first, and as quietly as possible. We don't want to alert anyone to our escape, and if we haven't woken up anyone else with our talking, then they're either asleep, or we're the only ones. Well, I'm supposed to be Psychic... Let's see if I can't get the latch open." Closing his eyes, he tried to feel around himself, but didn't sense anything special. After another moment, he sighed, admitting, "Okay, so if I know the attack, I have no idea how to use it... Wait a second... Did they... Are they really _that_ stupid?"

Walking closer to the bars, Moonstone twisted his head, slowly pushing it all past the bars. "Holy crap... I can fit! They must have put us in before we changed or something, because they should have _known_ that a cat could get through these bars! Anything a cat that can get its head through an opening can eventually get their entire body past! Just give me a moment..." Wiggling slowly, he inched his way out, before falling flat on his face on the cold tile floor.

"Well, at least you can get out," Dice sighed. "Make sure to tell everyone what happened here... although... I'm not entirely sure what actually _did_ happen, but... yeah. Please remember me as the sexy Latias you met."

"Come on, what kind of guy do you think I am, that I would leave a damsel in distress? Besides, if I rescue you, you owe me a kiss!" Laughing, Moonstone shook himself vigorously, twisting his head again to get rid of the cricks. After he stretched, he breathed a sigh of relief, then turned around to get a good look at his fellow prisoner.

Dice smiled slowly and winked at Moonstone, blowing him a kiss. "Sure... handsome..."

Moonstone's face turned purple almost immediately, blustering, "I was just kidding! Like I'd want a kiss from a transsexual Pokemon anyways!" He wondered for just a second if she was teasing him about being handsome or not, before he refocused on getting out. "A-anyways," he continued, looking away, his face hot. "Let's get out of... Hey! We're not the only ones! They're still asleep it looks like, but they all look weird as well... Think they used to be humans too?" he asked as he walked forward, examining the lock of her cage carefully. "Wait a sec, what's your name again?"

"Dice... and... uh... could we keep the thing about me being a guy secret? I... I kinda blurted it out because I was surprised, you know... it's embarrassing enough as it is..." Dice said, looking at the Espeon outside her cell with a slightly nervous smile. "Nice to meet you, Moon. Can I call you 'Moon'? Also... why are you named after an evolutionary rock?"

Smirking slightly, Moonstone replied, "Well, it sure _seems_ like you have the _ability_ to call me Moon... If you're asking if you have _permission_, then... Yeah, sure. Don't worry, I can keep a secret. It's going to be hard enough to try to explain to my parents how I got turned into a Pokemon! I don't even want to _think_ about trying to explain that I got turned into a Pokemon _and_ had my gender changed... Look, don't worry, okay? Once we get out of here and back to my lab, my dad and I will figure this out faster than you can catch a Magicarp!"

Turning his attention to the lock once more, he continued, "What can I say? My parents are a little... odd. They're great, don't get me wrong, but with my dad being an inventor, he had some... interesting name ideas, and my mom agreed to alternate days to decide who would get to name me. Needless to say, my dad won. If my mom had won, then I would have been named Xellius," he finished, sticking out his tongue. "Yeah, neither name is great, so I tend to go by Moon and Xell a lot. Only one other person knows about that, so... Yeah, you get a secret about me. Not nearly as important as yours, but at least we're kind of even now... There!"

Dice pushed the door open and hovered out. "Not walking is weird... but cool." She levitated higher and did a twirl around Moonstone. "How do I look? Isn't this awesome? I can fly!"

"Yeah, that's awesome and all, but we're trying to stay quiet, remember?" Moonstone reprimanded, sighing. "Yeah, you look great, okay? I could stay and compliment how great you look, but right now, escaping is more important! Now, it's safe to say you had equipment, right? Pokemon, Pokegear, the works? I might not have had Pokemon on me, but I still need my stuff back! I don't want them finding out where I live, if it isn't too late..."

"Tch... fine." Dice lowered herself to ground level. "Yes, my clothes, for one, and my Pokedex, PokeNav, and my Lugia feather necklace. No Pokemon, I was trying to catch a new one."

"Okay then, here's what we'll do. You are, no offense, kinda large. It doesn't look like-"

"I'll have you know I am a perfectly healthy specimen of my species!" Dice huffed, a smile betraying her seriousness away. "No extra fat on _these_ wings, dear."

Moonstone stared at her with a flat expression, saying in an annoyed tone, "I didn't say you were _fat_, and you know it! I just said you're _large compared_ to me! Now, as I was saying, our stuff isn't here, which means it's in another room. I'll be able to sneak in and out of room a whole heck of a lot better than you, unless you learned how to become invisible already. So you work on waking everybody up. See who's with us while I try to find our stuff. If it's unguarded, then I'll bring it back. If it's protected, then I'll come back so that we can plan. Sound good?"

"Geez, talking about having a short fuse," Dice rolled her eyes. "I'll look around, don't get your... uh... tail, tied in a knot!"

Moonstone's eye twitched as he turned towards the door, muttering darkly, "If you weren't a girl, I'd kick your damn ass so hard you'd kiss the moon..."

Dice chuckled as the Espeon grumbled and walked away. She looked around the room. There were several cages lined up next to each other, none of them seemed to be actually designed to hold Pokemon, but from what Moonstone had said, none of the Pokemon inside had originally been what they were now.

Slowly, Dice approached a cage where a Ponyta with lavender fur snored. She cleared her throat and knocked on the bars. "Hey, you, sleepy! Uh... wake up!" Dice hissed. "Come on! I can't actually shout!" she whispered. After nothing happened, Dice sighed and reared her head back. "I. Said. Wake up!" she whispered urgently again, throwing her head forward in frustration. However, just after the last word was said, a tiny misty sphere sailed out of her mouth and exploded on the rump of the unconscious Ponyta.

With a squeal, the Pokemon jumped into the air, purple fiery mane flashing brightly as she landed on all fours, looking around in a panic. "Wha- where am I?" her eyes looked around the cell in confusion before settling on Dice and going wide. "A-a Latias?"

"Yes, my child," Dice said, smiling benevolently at the cowering Pokemon. "You are here because you have been given a second chance... you have been transformed! Reborn into a form better fitting your fiery spirit!" she said grandly, hoping that the Ponyta in question did actually have a fiery spirit and was not, in fact, a meek little girl. Or boy, since you could not really tell nowadays.

The Ponyta looked down at herself, slowly realizing that, yes, she was a Pokemon now, and that she had hooves, not hands. She looked up at Dice in disbelief. "Did you do this?"

Dice smiled uncomfortably. "Uh, no, actually. The truth is that I also was turned into a Pokemon but... we uh... girls, have to stick up for each other, right? Female power and all that jazz."

The Ponyta simply stared at Dice as if she was an idiot and, with a sigh, the Latias opened the cage. "There... uh, come on out and wait for Moonstone; I'll see who else is here..."

The next Pokemon was an Axew, who was in fact awake. Dice looked at the little guy curiously before clearing her throat. "Hello, little one! How are you this fine... whatever time it is? Do you want to be set free with the rest of us?"

"… Well... Is there going to be, like, a radical party later? I don't know, dudette... Seems like it might be easier to just, you know, go with the flow, you know?" he said hazily, his eyes slightly out of focus.

Dice looked at the silver colored Axew. "Well... uh, if you stay here you will eventually run out of whatever it is you are on... do you really want that? You'd be going cold-Farfetch'd, and I hear it's not a good thing to go through inside a cell..."

"... the cell... it's just a concept, man... you know? Like Groudon..." the Axew turned on his back, staring blankly at the ceiling. "You think the sky is blue... but it's grey... all grey..."

"Uh... right," Dice coughed. "I guess I'd better work on the others..."

"They're all concepts," the Axew glanced her way. "A nice... floating dudette would know... they're all concepts... Ho-Oh... Rayquaza..."

"Y-yeah..." Dice took a step towards the other cell.

"... Lugia..."

"No she isn't! She's real!" Dice snapped, glaring at the Axew.

"No, no... you see... it's a concept... you believe in Lugia because of the system..."

"What system?"

"The one _you're_ part of... we all are... the truth has been here all this time, dudette, there _is_ no spoon..."

"Wait, what spoon? Are we talking about the same thing here?" Dice glared at the Axew.

"The spoon, dudette, you know..." he took a deep breath. "There is none... just like the Legendaries... they are a concept that we have been taught to believe... like meat..."

"But... I'm a Legendary Pokemon!" Dice replied indignantly. "I'm a Latias and- meat? What does that have to do with the spoon?"

The Axew looked at her in confusion. "What spoon?"

"The one that isn't there!"

"Exactly..." he droned with a dry cough.

Dice groaned and clicked the door open. "Fine. Stay in there or don't, I'm moving on..."

She intended to stomp across the room to the other side, but ended up just wobbling there indignantly as she levitated to look into the next cell. Inside she could barely make out the curled creature at the corner.

"Is that... a Cyndaquil?" she mused aloud. "Hey you... are you awake? Can you hear me?"

"Nngh... Go away..." he groaned, shaking a paw wearily at the Latias. "I've got a headache, so lemme alone."

Dice sighed and started opening the cell. "Listen, just because you have a headache doesn't mean that you can't get up! Come on! Do you want to stay here, as a freaking Cyndaquil for the rest of your life?"

She stopped when she noticed Moonstone stepping back into the room.

.o.O.o.

Moonstone took a moment to calm himself down before leaving the room. After taking a deep breath, he crept out the door, sticking his head out a few inches. After seeing that the coast was clear, he quietly padded over to the far wall, where there were more shadows to hide in. It took him a moment to get used to walking on all four paws, but once he got the hang of it, he found that he could actually move with a great deal of stealth, as well as speed. 'I could get used to this,' he thought to himself. 'I bet I could run at crazy speeds like this! But right now, speed is less important. They probably think that we're still unconscious. If we're going to escape, we need to be careful...'

He had to pass several doors, mostly because he couldn't reach the door handles from the ground. After finding an open door, he sneaked inside, staying as deep in the shadows as he could. After searching the room for a minute, he saw an open ventilation shaft in the far corner. Grinning at his fortune, he quickly made his way to the new travelling route, jumping deftly inside. 'I can jump higher and more accurately as well... Still, how will I...'

Shaking his head, he pushed the more negative thoughts from his mind, reminding himself that there would be time to think later. Right now, they needed to get out of this place as soon as possible!

It didn't take as long walking in the shafts, as he was able to see into other rooms without having to enter them. Finally, he found a room nearby that had what they were looking for. 'My goggles! Finally, the right room!'

It took all of his will-power not to just leap straight down in the room to grab his personal affects. He looked through the vent carefully, taking the time to see if there was anyone inside. After a moment, he sighed in relief when he was that the coast was clear. 'Thank Arceus, there's no one around...'

After opening the grate gently, he hopped down to the floor on stealthy paws, smiling cheekily to himself. 'Okay, Operation Recovery phase one complete! Now, to get everything out of here... That... Might be a bit difficult,' he admitted to himself, looking at all of the clothes. Frowning at how much there was, he smiled again when he saw a large knapsack. 'Awesome! I'll just stuff everything in that! I can carry that on my... Oh no, I can't... I can...' sticking out his tongue in disgust, continued the thought process. 'I can carry it in my mouth... Ugh. These clothes had _better_ be clean, dammit!'

He stuffed the first shirt and pair of pants he could find in the bag, before placing all of the Pokegears and PokeDex he could find, topping it off with his own items. His goggles, however, he immediately put on, moving them to wait on top of his head until needed. He grunted as he lifted the bag slowly, straining. 'This... Is going to be harder than I thought...'

It took several more minutes to make it back to the room where he first found the opening, and another couple to make it back to the room with the cages, entering slowly, exhausted, but also proud. "I'm back! Got all of our stuff, too," he panted, dropping the bad heavily on the floor, counting on the clothes inside to dampen the fall.

"Hey... I don't see my boots!" Dice said, looking over the clothes. "Did you _really_ get everything?"

"Well, I certainly _tried_ to get everything! There's only so much I could carry in the bag, you know?" Slightly disgruntled at the lack of praise, he sighed, sitting down at patiently as he could. "So, what exactly did I miss?"

"Oh, wait! I forgot, I was wearing my sneakers! And here they are! Well done, Moon!" Dice chuckled as she patted Moonstone on the head and scratched his ears.

Moonstone stiffened, his entire body on edge, the fur rising along his back, his eyes wide. After a moment, he closed his eyes, muttering, "Stop that, it's degrading! I'm not some pet, you know!"

"Oooh, does da little kitty like?" Dice teased, scratching even more. "Does he like? I think he does! Oooh the kitty likes!" she chuckled as Moonstone's legs even started twitching in bliss. "Who's the good kitty? Who's the good kitty? Yesh! You are! Yesh you are!"

Moonstone wasn't sure how to respond, as he _did_ secretly enjoy the attention, but at the same time... His eyes snapped open, a pale blue aura appearing around Dice as she was shoved away a couple feet with a weak Psychic attack. He snapped at her, "I said a little lower!" After a second, he blinked, then stammered, "Gah! No, I meant stop it! We're supposed to be escaping, remember?"

Dice chuckled... then blinked. "Hey, Moon? Did you check for security cameras?"

Moonstone blinked, his face blank as he thought. "Umm... I... Uhh... Okay, well... !"

"Ehehe... yeah uh, remember to write if you're staying here! If not, well, this is your last chance!" Dice added, picking up her clothes in her arms.

"Hey... can I come with you guys?" a small voice inquired.

Dice turned around and saw a shiny whimsicott staring at them from behind bars. "That-" she choked. "That's adorable! Moon, look! Can I keep her?"

"Do you promise to take good care of her?" Moon replied dryly, rolling his eyes at Dice's antics.

"I would really like to get out of here... This place is creepy," the Whimsicott added to her previous statement.

"Yes! I'll make sure she's well fed and properly groomed! Pleeeease let her out and let's take her with us!" Dice squealed.

Moonstone sighed, padding up to the cage swiftly. "Fine, but don't come crying to me when she bites you in your sleep or something..." With a few deft flicks of his paw, the lock on the cage fell to the floor, the door swinging open. "Okay, we need to hustle! Security could be coming for all we know, so let's go!"

"I'm not a pet..."

Dice grinned as she looked at the Whimsicott. "Moon said the same thing, and see?" she scratched Moonstone's ears making him purr. "Lies!"

"But I'm not really a Whimsicott... I'm a human! I don't know why I'm here or how I'm a Pokemon..."

"Well, that does present a problem..." Dice sighed, releasing Moonstone from the inescapable trap of ear-scratching.

"Besides, Pokemon aren't 'pets', they are companions! Friends! Even though some people treat them like pets... it... it isn't right!" the Whimsicott objected.

"Oh, I agree that Pokemon are not pets!" Dice said with a smile. "But you just said you were not a Pokemon! So, fair game, right?"

Moonstone growled, shaking himself indignantly, walking stiffly towards the door, tail held stiff as well.

The Whimsicott blinked a few times, thinking about this. "I... I guess you're right..." She murmured, as the last of her confidence left her.

"Oh, don't give me that Mareepish look... I'm just joking!" Dice said, her smile widening into Haunter-like proportions. "Yesh... joking..."

"Really? Oh... Hehehe!" The shiny Whimsicott giggled nervously. "I'm Wave by the way."

"I'm Dice, and the purring machine is Moonstone," Dice said, floating up to the Whimsicott. "Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to um... meet you too," Wave replied, smiling shyly.

"Okay! We should really go!" Dice said, packing her stuff and most of the rest into the backpack. "I think I can carry a few Pokemon along..."

"Where are we going? Do we know how to get out of here?" Wave asked. 'I keep asking too many questions...' she thought to herself.

"Uh... Moon?" Dice looked at the Espeon. "Any ideas?"

"I know how to get out," Moonstone said quietly, peeking out the door. "I saw the exit when I was crawling around the air-ducts. The exit isn't that far away, but I don't know where it leads. We'd have to look around outside to get our bearings before we get out of the city."

"Okay!" Dice said as she merrily picked up the Whimsicott and put her on top of her back. She flew into a cell and picked up the stoned Axew, then flew into another cell and reconsidered picking up the Ponyta. "Well... you can walk, come on!"

She glanced into the cell with the Cyndaquil as the Ponyta slowly walked out of her cell. "What do I do with this one, Moon?"

Moonstone pussy-footed over, frowning slightly at the Cyndaquil. "So... Headache, right? Possibly a hangover... Look, I'm only going to say this once: you come with us, and I'll do my best to help you get better. Otherwise, stay in that cell and sulk like a little girl. I don't care either w-"

"What did you say to me?" Blade retorted, springing to his paws with fire in his eyes. "You think you can insult me like that and get away with it? I'll pound your little blue head into next week!"

"Yeah, I'd like to see you do that, really," Moonstone yawned in response, covering his mouth with a paw. "But as a scientist, I'm here to tell you that time-travel from a punch is impossible. But hey, now that you're up and moving, feel like bruising some chops as we bust outta this place? I don't know about you, but the thought of being experimented on makes me rather upset..."

"They _what_? Oh _Hell no!_ They're gonna pay for messing with me! Charge!" the smallish Pokemon roared, dashing out of the room and through the door in a flash.

"What did you do to him? I haven't seen any Pokemon charge through a door like that since that incident with the Tauros in Petalburg..." Dice asked Moonstone in awe as she hovered closer.

"Meh, nothing much," Moonstone admitted as he started to follow the raging Cyndaquil. "I just recognized that he was a hot-head, so all I had to do was find the right trigger for him to go berserk in the good way. Either he'll lead us to the exit, or he'll distract the guards for us. Let's go!"

"Okay! Well, lead the way! I have stoner, fluffy and ponyta all with me." Dice said cheerfully, floating out of the way and motioning to the door with her head.

Moonstone nodded, then shot out of the room, leading the way towards what he knew was the exit. They had hardly made it a couple of hallways before they found the Cyndaquil again, looking back and forth as he tried to decide which way to go. "If you're looking for a fight, then follow us!" Moonstone shouted as he ran past, hoping they wouldn't meet any guards.

"Yeah! Don't let the headache stop you!" Dice said as she flew past carrying the other Pokemon. She looked around. "Dude, security sucks! There's no-one here! What type of operation is this? Can't they afford, I don't know, an old guard close to retiring age with his faithful Houndoom?"

"Duuude... there _is _no guard..." Axew whispered in that irritatingly raspy and meditative tone of voice only he could achieve.

"That's what I just said!" Dice snapped.

"We're not going to find out by chatting, so keep moving," Moonstone chided, making the last turn, a door at the end of the hall. As they neared, he slowed down, talking quieter. "Alright, we can either burst through there, hoping to catch them off-guard if there's someone there... Or we can go slow, peaking through in hopes that there isn't anyone there, and thus won't hear us leaving... What do you think?"

"I- I vote for the quiet way," Wave said softly, piping up immediately.

"Gah! Just bust through vigilante style! Don't waste time, let's go!" Blade countered, the fire on his back burning brightly.

"Whoa, hold on a minute my fiery friend... unless you actually know how to fight in that new body of yours we're not going to get very far if we simply attack them! I hate to say it but right now, as you are with the flames and all that stuff, the only thing you're good for is as a grill." Dice said, looking at the fighter. When she got a glare that could melt an iceberg she chuckled nervously. "Ah... well, I don't mean that you're not a capable fighter but we are at a disadvantage and I am carrying civilians!"

"Love and peace duude..." Axew said with a dreamy smile, lifting a tiny paw. "Chillaaax, my friend, all you need is looove..."

"Okay, you stop right there mister, if you pull out a dandelion I _will_ leave you behind, understood?" Dice growled, then turned to Moonstone. "I say we sneak out; once we know what we're actually capable of doing we can return and kick ass!"

"Agreed. I wanna find out more about what it is that they're doing, but right now, we need to get the hell outta here! Ready? Get ready to run if there are grunts..." Moonstone cautioned, before slowly getting on his hind legs, resting his fore-paws against the door, as he slowly pulled the handle down, the door swinging open silently.

Moonstone tumbled out, having lost his balance, and ended up on his back in the snow, outside in an alleyway. He did his best to right himself swiftly, ready to run if they were caught, but surprisingly, there was no one around. "Okay, this is just odd... Still no guards?"

"This... is beyond odd, Moony, this is just plain silly. Whoever is in charge of this whole thing is completely incompetent when it comes to security." Dice stated. "Is a rent-a-Jenny too much to ask for?"

Moonstone surged to his paws. a strange look on his face. "Yeah, how odd..." He spaced out for a moment longer, before his eyes cleared again, sharper than before. "Alright, let's go! There seems to be a LOT of people to the left, so we should go to the right, then we'll head south. We've only got an hour or two til dawn, it looks like, so let's get going! We want to be far away from here come sunrise."

The rest of the Pokemon exchanged glances. "Well, it's not like you guys have a choice since I'm carrying most of you. Let's go!" Dice said, already following Moonstone.

.o.O.o.

After the group had been walking for a while, and there seemed to be no sign of pursuers or the people that had captured them, the Pokemon started to relax a little.

"So... what did all of you use to do before becoming my pe- I mean, Pokemon?" Dice asked out of the blue.

"_Your_ Pokemon?" Moonstone exclaimed, eyes going wide in shock and anger. "Look here Missy, I belong to _no-one!_ I'm an inventor, thank you very much! I've improved the Super Potion to be more economically friendly, as well as cheaper to make, among other things!"

"Well, yes, I'm sure you did, but... I have a secret I should tell you..." Dice smiled sweetly as she hovered closer to Moonstone. "Who'se my wuffy lovey kitty cat?" she asked, scratching him behind the ears. "Who ish it? Who? You are! Yesh you are!"

The only thing saving Moonstone from melting into a purring pool of pleasure was that he had kept walking, so the scratching was uneven, and thus not pleasurable enough to render him immobile. Jerking away, he shook in anger, his eyes glaring at her. "I swear, I'm getting so mad at you that I could just..."

Feeling his energy build up, he opened his mouth to just scream, hoping to release his anger and energy in a way that wouldn't hurt anyone, but instead, a fast, screaming, howling wind was summoned, starting to cause the ground in front of them to frost over. Stopping in shock, his jaw dropping, stuttering, "Wh-what just... How did... What just happened? Was that an attack? But... Espeon doesn't learn any moves that have to do with wind!"

"Wow..." Dice's eyes were wide. "You... froze the ground! That is awesome! I shall never run out of cold beers when you're around!"

Moonstone glared at her for a moment, before his eyes spaced off for a moment. "Yeah, that's true..."

"So... you're an inventor, Moon? That's pretty cool! At least one of us seems to have his life together." She looked down at the Axew. "What about you, uh... dude? What do you do for a living?"

"I chiiiiill dudette..." Axew mused aloud. "I contemplate the origins of life... I-"

"So, Ponyta, what does a nice, cute equine like you do for a living?" Dice asked the quiet Pokemon.

"I... worked at a bar in Downtown Harburg," she said. "It's a good enough job, even if the hours were killing me."

Dice nodded, then looked down at the Cyndaquil. When Blade opened his mouth, Dice looked back at Moony. "So, how far away are we from your place?"

"Oh, we're kinda close. You see that mansion? I live nearby. But uh... Let's take the back entrance. I'd rather we not make a scene as we arrive. I still have no idea how to explain this to my parents, especially since I don't know if we're still talking plain English or not... Just... Follow my lead, okay? Just stay quiet. All we have to do is open the back door, and then sneak inside. Don't make much noise, because they'll wake up easily. Now, to open the door, all we have to do i-"

Moonstone was suddenly tackled in the side and flung against the side of the wall twenty feet away. He fell heavily to the ground, barely avoiding landing on a sharp rock that threatened to stab him in the head. "W-wha?"

"Be still or die, trespassers!" a harsh, female voice barked. A shiny Umbreon stood proudly in front of the door, her stance wide, her eyes glowing as her teeth were bared.

o.O.o End Chapter o.O.o


	2. Chapter 2

**A New World**

**By**

**WYLD STALLYNZ**

****

"Hey! Whatcha do that for?" Dice asked, eyeing the Umbreon warily. "Look what you did to my Moony! He'll never be the same! I bet he's defective now! This is coming out of _your_paycheck!" Dice's eyes narrowed. "If this is how it's going to be, then you will have to fight!" She pushed the Cyndaquil forth. "You have to fight my Cyndy!"****

Blade's eyebrow twitched. "Cindy!"****

"Isn't that your name?" Dice blinked.****

"No! My name is Blade! I'm a fighter!"****

Dice smiled. "Great!" she looked at the Umbreon. "You have to fight _my _Blade now! Prepare for battle!"****

Excited about the prospect, Blade turned around and growled at the Umbreon.****

"Then prepare to die," the Umbreon replied coldly. "No one breaks into my master's house and gets away with it!"****

"We're friends with Moonstone! And to prove it, Blade will kick your ass! Blade! Go!"****

"Raaargh!" Blade roared as he jumped pulling his fist back, ready to down the offending Umbreon.****

The last thing he saw before sailing past Dice was the Umbreon rolling her eyes. ****

Dice looked at the unconscious Cyndaquill and turned to glare at the Umbreon, who said smugly, "Well, now that we have established where we stand, why don't you-"****

"Moonstone said we could stay here, okay? Would you just wait a sec so we can talk?" Moonstone groaned, starting to get to his paws shakily.****

"I doubt that he would do that," countered the female, keeping an eye on her downed opponent. "Because he's obsessive compulsive about cleanliness, and you're all filthy!"****

"Pardon me? Filthy? I'll have you know Legendary Pokemon are _never_filthy! It's just you." ****

"Escuse me? I'll have you know she gets brushed at _least_three times a day!" Moonstone snapped, glaring at Dice. "And he wouldn't do what now? Wouldn't let filthy Pokemon into his house? Last time I checked, he sure didn't seem to care how filthy you and your brother Solaire were when he took you home and nursed you back to health with Tear's help."****

"Dude, you're coming out as a stalker..." Dice muttered.****

The Umbreon blinked, backing up ever so slightly as she narrowed her eyes. "H-how did you know about that? Wait a second... You're the ones behind his disappearance, aren't you?"****

"Oh, no, nononono... you got it all wrong!" Dice protested, making soothing motions with her claws. "I have nothing to do with Moonstone other than scratching his ears and making him purr. I swear on Lugia's feather!"****

"You hurt Moonstone?" the Umbreon screeched, her eyes going wide before starting to growl, preparing a much stronger attack.****

Dice rolled her eyes. "Not 'Scratch' the attack you fire-cracker! Scratch as in, you know..." she scratched her arm like she would scratch a pet's ears. Seeing that the Umbreon was serious, Dice carefully placed the Ponyta in the line of fire.****

"W-wait! What are you doing?" the Ponyta asked.****

"Dice, do yourself a favor and shut the hell up, okay?" Moonstone grunted, swaying slightly as he stopped leaning against the wall.****

"But... but she's soooo cute, Moon! I can't help but tease her!"****

"Oh yes you will!" Moonstone snapped, shooting daggers at the Latias. "I will _not_stand by while you mock _my_Moonsong!"****

While the Umbreon gaped at the pair, Dice sighed, "I'm, not laughing at her! I'm laughing _with her!_**" **Dice grinned. "Besides, you know I don't mock Pokemon, Moony!" her smile faded at the Espeon's angry look. "Fine, fine, be protective." Shaking her head, Dice floated over to poke at Blade with a stick. "Hey, are you alive?"****

The Umbreon's eyes re-narrowed slightly, focusing her attention on Moonstone. "How did you know that name? Moonstone only ever called me that in private..."****

Moonstone opened his mouth, then hesitated. "W-well... This uh... Is going to sound pretty crazy, but uh... Funny thing happened to me on the way home from the bar?" he finished, chuckling nervously.****

"Look, either give me straight answers, or I'm going to kick your ass out of here!" she retorted, clearly not amused. ****

"Fine! Just give me a chance to explain afterwards then! I... I _am_Moonstone. I was on the way home from the bar, some planes released this gas that made us pass out, and when I woke up, I was like this."****

"What? That's crazy! You're lying!" she exclaimed, getting ready to fight again. "It's impossible for a human to turn into a Pokemon!"****

Dice was about to say something but the Cyndaquil's groan distracted her. "Damn it, you had to wake up right when I could have caused the most damage..." she sighed.****

Moonstone gaped at Moonsong, his voice unbelieving. "I don't know if you seriously don't remember, or if you're flat out lying. I _know_you know that's not true. Remember Bill's famous accident? He turned into a Pokemon. Look, you want me to prove I'm Moonstone? Ask me something that only I would know!"****

"Fine! What is the one thing I treasure above all other things?"****

"Oh! I know that! I know that!" Dice said animatedly from behind the Umbreon. "Your litter box! It has to be!"****

The Umbreon jumped in surprise, before spinning around and firing a Dark Pulse right in Dice's face before backing off, ready for further battle. Moonstone, being pushed past his limit, yelled, "Dice, I _swear_to Arceus, if you say one more damn word, I will freaking give Luna permission to slaughter your sorry ass for trespassing! You're here as a guest, so _start acting like it, dammit!_**"**

Dice groaned and shook her head, then lowered it, looking dejectedly at Moonstone. "Sorry, Moon... you know I'm just getting used to this stuff... and... I don't really mean anything by it..."****

Moonstone felt bad, but knew he shouldn't break, so he decided to reply stiffly, "I know, but there's a time and place for it, and you need to learn when and where that is! I'm already freaking out, and I don't need to freak out Luna more than I already am!" Turning back to the Umbreon, he finished with, "Look, I could tell you that your middle name is Astoria. I could tell you that my password for all of my equipment is Xellius. I could even tell you that you're the one who took the blame for the broken antique when I was younger. There's nothing more I can say to convince you I'm telling the truth. Either you trust me, or I'm screwed. I _still_don't know how I'm going to explain this to mom and dad, and, seeing as I can understand you, I'm going out on a limb here and guessing that I don't even speak English anymore! Now please, for the love of Arceus, just let me in the door!"****

The Umbreon was silent for a moment, thinking deeply, before she stepped aside, saying quietly, "Fine, go right ahead. If you can open that door on your first try, I'll believe you. Do you still have your key on you, or do you need the spare under the mat?"****

"We don't need keys," Dice said. "I could always blast it! I discovered how to throw an attack earlier today!" Then she sighed, "But... as a guest I shouldn't do that... go ahead..."****

Moonstone, who had been grinning when Dice started to talk, tried to keep the disappointment out of his voice as he inquired, "Are you _sure_? I mean, you're not saying you have trouble opening doors, do you? The key is under the mat, after all..."****

Dice nodded. "Yes... but, if I blasted your door I would be acting very much like... fine. Okay, where's that key? I'll bite..." she hovered over to the door mat and lifted it, quickly spotting the key. "Okay, since I do have fingers... of sorts... this shouldn't be a problem." Slowly she inserted the key in the keyhole, then turned it until it clicked. Dice then started to gather energy in her mouth.****

Moonstone gaped for a moment, before faceplanting into the ground, muttering, "Give me a break... I asked _her_to open the door so I could finally get a laugh!" Raising his head, he continued, "If you break that door, so help me I will make you not only pay for a new one, but also make you prepare breakfast!"****

The threat was so completely and utterly illogical and lame that Dice, confused, closed her mouth and looked at Moonstone with wide eyes. That's when her attack exploded in her mouth. Trails of misty smoke puffed out of her nose as she collapsed forward.****

Moonstone snorted, then fell to the ground, laughing hysterically. "That was _priceless! _I mean, I was expecting you to fail to open the door, but to have your own attack blow up on you?" He continued to laugh for a moment, before wheezing, "It opens from the bottom, okay? You use the key as leverage to make the crack wide enough at the bottom to get a good hold, and you just lift it straight up! Pretty cool trick, right?"****

Dice remained quiet, face down on the floor. Wave abandoned her hiding place behind a rock and slowly approached her, poking her on the side. "Is she dead?"****

Moonstone crept forward a few steps, then sighed, "Nah, she's not dead. With how my day has gone, I couldn't be _that_lucky..."****

Moonstone then looked down to find Dice's teary eyes looking up at him.****

Moonstone flinched slightly, not sure if he could look away. 'Dammit! I can't win! Either she's actually hurt, or she's trolling me...'****

"Moon..." Dice said, watery eyes shimmering in the light. "Mah tongeh huthz!"****

Moonstone blinked, then started to giggle. "Oh? Hugh don thay? Ah'm thow thorry!"****

Dice blinked, then started giggling too. "Thou thound thilly! Ah donth thounth like that!"****

"Of course you don't," Moonstone replied patronizingly, patting her on the head. "You sound perfectly normal, and not like a baby at all. It's okay, you can stay laying here, outside in the snow. I guess I'll just have to go inside all by myself, and make a nice, hot meal just for me, take a hot shower to get rid of all this muck, fall asleep in my nice, large, memory foam bed," he finished slowly, having dragged out the list to taunt the injured Latias on the ground.****

Dice chuckled. "Thou maght wanna make some foth the otheths... I'll sthay hethe foth a bit..." she said, looking away and at the sky.****

Moonstone blinked, then asked, "Wait, are you serious? I was just pulling your leg, you know... Besides, I still have tests to run to figure out what the hell happened to us! If you get sick, that might screw up the tests."****

The Umbreon stood to the side, her mind racing as she tried to piece things together, not willing to truly comprehend that her master had been turned into a Pokemon. "W-wait a sec... A-all of you claim to be humans who were turned into a Pokemon? What are your names, then?"****

"I'm Dice, and I haven't claimed anything," Dice said, having recovered feelings in her tongue. "The Whimsy is Wave, the Cyndaquil you knocked out is Blade, the Ponyta over there behind the rock is our resident Ponyta, the Axew is Dude... I think... aand... that's about it, I think." After the quick introduction, which prompted the others to slowly approach, Dice looked back to Moonstone. "Yeah, I'm serious... I just need some time... I think the blast finally calmed me down a bit."****

"Okay, if you're sure... You know how to open the door now, so I guess we'll see ya when you come in. Luckily, I've only been gone all night, so if we're lucky, mom and dad won't have really noticed. I tend to keep to myself, so we might get away with a day or two alone to figure this out, but we'll have to be-"****

"You've been gone for over a day, Moon," Luna interrupted. "I... if that's really you, the last we heard you were going to the bar to meet with an old friend. That was a couple nights ago... I... We thought you were gone... We were starting to wonder what had happened to you," she finished, her voice quiet.****

Moonstone processed the information, but wasn't sure what to do or say about it. "Oh. Well... Umm, let's be fast, then! Everyone inside!"****

Dice watched as the group shuffled into the house until she was left all alone in the now-quiet night. She sighed and looked around lazily, her tongue still stinging from the explosion. The cold air felt good against the down on her feathers and served to clear her mind. "What am I going to do with myself?" she asked the night.****

She remained silent for a bit longer before a soft smile crept into her face. Slowly, she started floating. It was as if the hold of the world was completely gone, and now that she was alone she could fully experience it... it was a delicious feeling, something like the very begining of a shudder but remaining at the base of her neck where it actually felt good somehow... she was free of the ground, of ties and old dreams. She chuckled as she slowly spiraled up higher and higher into the air.****

Walking inside the large building, Moonstone turned and kicked the wall, lights flashing into existence. "Well, it's not much, but it's a nice little place I like to call home," Moonstone said modestly, taking a look around. ****

"Feel free to help yourselves to some food, though in our current forms, I doubt we can cook much. I'm heading downstairs to the lab if you need me. I need to run some DNA tests immediately! Luna, would you mind helping them find what they need? If I use the Yumi, I should be able to handle things on my own, for awhile at least."****

"Duuuude, I totally feel like a Pokemon now... whooooaaaa..." Sage said as he sat down, wonder in his eyes. "This is aaaweeesooome..."****

"I... guess, but I'll be right down," Luna answered hesitantly, watching the blue Espeon walk around the corner and down the stairs. Swallowing, she turned back to face the Pokemon who claimed to have been humans. "So uh... What do you guys need?"****

Cassie shrugged. "I'd like to know why I'm a Pokemon now... but... is it okay for all of us to find out and leave Dice behind?"****

Blade snorted. "Didn't you hear her? She wanted to be alone for a while. Besides, if she cared she'd be in here with all of us. I say we just find a way to change back and be done with it."****

"Yeah, I... I want to know what happened too!" Luna exclaimed, standing straighter. "This just doesn't make any sense! Humans don't just turn into Pokemon! I... How can Moonstone turn into a Pokemon and be so calm about it?****

"I bet it's Dice's fault," the Ponyta said, looking around the house curiously. "She's also been transformed, but she seems to be so comfortable as a Pokemon... I can't stop trying to stretch my fingers!"****

Luna looked over her shoulder, making a quick decision. "Alright, I want you all to listen, and to listen carefully, because I _won't_repeat myself. I'm stepping outside, and if I find even _one_thing out of place, _one_mess to clean up, Arceus help me, I'll kick your butts so hard the _thought_of sitting down will make you pass out. Capiche?"****

Sufficiently satisfied that they weren't going to go anywhere, she padded downstairs on silent paws. 'I... I can't tell if he's really Moonstone or not... I mean, he's an Espeon, so he could have just read Moon's mind... So I need to observe him when he thinks he's alone to see if he acts odd!'****

Satisfied that she had a plan, she waited in the shadows, staring at the blue Espeon as he typed out some commands on a holographic screen, a larger screen in front of him filled with information. ~Welcome back, Master Xell. Keeping busy are you?~****

"No time for pleasantries, Luran," Moonstone said sharply, his paws flickering over the glass keyboard. "I've got some DNA tests to run as soon as possible. Activate the standard testing sequen-"****

"I'm sorry, sir, but there seems to be something wrong with my voice command receptor. It sounds like you're talking like an Espeon, sir," the computer interrupted, his cultured synthetic voice calm. "Perhaps my-"****

Moonstone disabled the computer's voice, not in the mood to deal with it at the moment. Sighing in defeat, he muttered to himself, "Well, at least that confirms that I'm not talking English anymore, but let's see what the DNA test can tell me. Is it still the same? Was it changed? Did they somehow take my memories and put them into a Pokemon's?"****

Luna watched as he leaned over, trying to pluck a hair from his body, but his teeth were no longer the right type to be able to pluck a hair with his teeth. "Crap... I can't get a blood sample without hands, and I can't get a hair, so what else could... Duh!"****

Sighing from his own stupidity, he carefully bit a Petri dish, carrying it back to the computer. He set it down, then gathered as much saliva as possible as he spat into the dish. After gazing at it, he decided that it was enough for the computer to properly analyze. "Knowing my luck, though," he muttered, shaking his head. "She won't accept it. Stupid finicky computer."****

He then grabbed the dish in his mouth once more, jumping up on top of the display. As he landed, however, he slipped, sliding on the glass surface before planting his face in the larger glass surface, creating a small crack running up the side. "Dammit!" he exploded, his face turning purple in rage. "Give me a break! As if Yumi didn't give me enough problems, now she's got a crack in the monitor? For the love of-"****

He was cut off as he heard someone laughing at him. His right eye twitching in irritation, he spun around to see who was making fun of him, only to see Luna giggling, her paw to her muzzle. "Sorry, but you... A-anyway, let's see what the DNA test says, hmm?"****

Moonstone watched in surprise as she jumped up next to him, before sitting down, waiting calmly beside him. "... Okay, what's wrong with you?" Moonstone asked bluntly.****

"What do you mean?" Luna replied, her tail slowly swishing behind her back and forth, only moving her head to look at him. "I'm just waiting patiently fo-"****

"Tauros-shit!" Moonstone replied, his eyes narrowing. "You've NEVER been calm in all the years I've known you when it comes to science! What is wrong with you? Where's your collar?"****

Luna ignored him, as the computer beneath them gave a bright _*Ding*_, signalling that the data was ready for analysis. As the information began streaming on the screen in front of them, the two eeveelutions paid it close attention. As Moonstone's eyes narrowed in thought, Luna's jaw dropped in surprise.****

"I'm not entirely sure what to make of this," Moonstone muttered, a paw raising to rub at his chin. "My DNA is still intact, but it still merged with Pokemon DNA on the outside of the helix? But... How does... That flies in the face of everything we know about DNA! There's no way this is what it's supposed to look like, b-"****

He was cut short as Luna caught him in a tight hug, burying her head in his neck as she started talking quickly, her voice muffled by his fur. "I can't believe it's you! What happened? We've been worried sick! How are you a Pokemon? Why are you blue?"****

Moonstone blinked, wondering why she was acting so differently all of a sudden, but tried to calm her down so that he could start to figure out how to answer her questions.****

.o.O.o.****

"Duuuude... check it out!" Axew whispered in awe, showing what he had found to the Ponyta.****

Cassie blinked. "That's a spoon."****

"Yeeaah..." Sage took a deep, raspy breath and whispered in a husky voice, "There _is _a spoon!"****

Blade rummaged through the fridge. "Does this guy have any beer in his fridge? I can only find yogurt..."****

"Um..." Wave hovered around the group, looking uncertain. "Guys, didn't the Umbreon said she would kill us if we-"****

Blade tossed out an old bottle of something, which clattered on the floor, but did not break. "She got lucky last time; if she attacks me again I'll teach her a thing or two..."****

"I hear you, Bro..." Sage nodded as he watched the bottle roll around the floor. "Luck is an art..."****

Blade frowned, and turned to look at the Axew. "That's not what I-"****

"Yeeeah, like, you know... cupcakes..."****

"Cupcakes?" Ponyta blinked. "What?"****

"... dude, you eat them... and they're gone, right?" Axew elaborated. "But... they really aren't... it's like, you don't see them, but they are a part of you already..."****

"Because you ate them?" Wave asked doubtfully.****

"They become _you_, dudette... the cupcake _is _you, when you eat it..."****

"So... when you eat a cupcake... you're eating yourself." Cassie deadpanned.****

"That's it, purple talking flaming ponyta! You got it!" Sage cheered. "You can feeeeel it all the time, right? Just like air and skin..."****

Blade shook his head. "You can't feel your skin all the time!"****

"You do, dude... you do... but you _think_you don't..." Sage sighed. "You have to think _outside the box_my friend, outside... the box... otherwise..." his eyes dulled for a moment and he stared straight ahead.****

"Otherwise?" Wave asked meekly, eyes wide.****

Sage shook his head. "Otherwise you're part of _the system-_**"**

"Oi! I thought I said not to touch anything up there, you filthy twerps!" Luna's voice echoed into the room from the basement. "Get your asses down here right this second! We've got questions to ask, data to collect, and problems to solve! _For science!"_****

"Duude... I hear voices..." Axew said in awe.****

"I bet you do," Blade said, pushing the Axew forth. "Come on, might as well find out how we all ended up like this."****

The group went down the stairs and found Moon and Luna standing in front of a monitor.****

"Well?" Blade asked, glancing at the pair. "What's the deal?"****

"Take a look at the monitor here," Moonstone instructed, pacing down the glass keyboard. "All the way on the left is what normal Human DNA looks like, okay? You, me, the naked guy across the street, whoever. A simply double-helix containing thousands upon millions of combinations. Next to it, in the middle, is what a normal Pokemon's DNA looks like. To be more specific, it's Luna's, since I already have her info in the computer. Notice how there's a triple helix, similar to our own, but the connections appear to be different, not evenly spaced like ours. All the way over here on the right is what mine looks like right at the moment. Looks normal at a glance, but if you look carefully, you can see segments of a third helix around one of my two original strands. Whatever happened to change us must have affected our DNA directly, or else it wouldn't have fused as easily as it has. This still leaves many questions to ask and answer, of course, but, personally, I at least feel a _little _better knowing that my DNA is still mine, and that there's just some extra now. All we have to do is figure out how to remove the Pokemon aspects of it, and we should be able to return to normal. Now, where does that leave us? Well I'm glad you asked! You see-"****

Blade stared as Moonstone explained what had happened to them. He stared and listened to the voice droning on and on and on with little details and big words like 'DNA' which he was supposed to understand. But he didn't. It was too much... slowly his eyelids lowered. And he collapsed, completely unconscious.****

"No..." Wave said weakly, valiantly struggling to stay awake. "Don't give in..."****

Sage for his part was nodding as everything made sense to him, while Cassie listened attentively, trying to figure out what she didn't understand with the overall things she did.****

"... Therefore, one of the first things we should try to steal when we go back to the facilities that we escaped from is some of the gas they used to knock us out. Was that gas alone what caused us to change? Was it merely a catalyst?" ****

Wave collapsed on top of Blade.****

"Was it _only_a knock-out gas, and had nothing to do with the transformation process to begin with? We need that gas to really be able to start investigating how this happened. Then we can figure out where to go from there. We _also _need to figure out how to rescue the others they took, because I'd bet a good chunk of my fortune that we weren't the only ones this happened to. We _have_to find out who else was involved, why they were picked, and... Wait, that brings up _another_question! Were we picked? Were we chosen at random? Were we in the wrong place at the wrong time? Were-"****

Moonstone was interrupted by Dice bursting into the room. Her eyes were red and her breathing fast, but slowly, as she looked at him, Luna and the others, it slowed down. "Uh... hi..."****

.o.O.o.****

Dice floated as the morning sun slowly started peeking through the clouds. It was, in a word, beautiful. She could still see the deep purple of the night time, and at the same time the rosy fingers of dawn slowly creeping over her.****

She felt like she was suspended there, in one moment where the world had completely stopped and there was absolutely nothing else other than her and the world. She wasn't even thinking, her thoughts taken away by the air, the freedom of flying and the world opening up in front of her.****

She felt a chill run down her spine as she took a deep breath. The last few hours came into sharp focus and she turned violently in the air, closing her eyes tightly and hugging her body. Her breath quickened as she trembled helplessly. Gritting her teeth she groaned and took a deep dive, heading straight for Moonstone's home.****

Little did she know that her dive had caught the attention of someone.****

It was an age-old morning ritual for Mr. Scifo to take an early morning jog to help keep his body and mind sharp for the rest of the day. After all, science waits for no one, and inspiration can come from anywhere! He was jogging home, trying to figure out why he had hit a dead-end with his latest invention, when he saw a white and purplish streak heading straight for his house. Worried, he picked up his pace, rounding the corner just in time to see what appeared to be a purple Latias looking curiously at the back door, before opening it and floating inside.****

Mr. Scifo almost couldn't believe it. A legendary Pokemon was visiting his house out of idle curiosity? This was the chance of a life-time! He carefully unzipped his left pants pocket, pulling out a single, purple Pokeball. 'Alright, let's go catch a legendary Pokemon! If it can't help me with my research, then nothing can!'****

Following at a distance, Mr. Scifo slipped inside the house, watching as the Latias looked around the room, causing him to duck swiftly as she turned to look in his direction. After a moment, he peeked over the top of his cover, barely catching her heading down the stairs to his son's laboratory in the basement. Knowing that she'd have no way of escaping past him, he rushed forward, trying to keep his footsteps on the stairs as light as possible to prevent her from hearing him. As he reached the bottom, he saw her floating ahead, her back towards him. Seizing the initiative, he threw the Master Ball as hard as he could, hitting her square in the back of the head. "YES! Take that!" he exclaimed in jubilation, waiting for the ball to open and capture the Latias.****

.o.O.o.****

Dice locked eyes with Moonstone. "Uh... hi. I'm... sorry I just barged in -" she stopped when something smacked her in the back of the head. "Ouch! What the hell?"****

She turned around angrily, energy gathering in her maw as a man in a jogging suit stared dumbfounded at a Pokeball that clattered on the floor uselessly. "Were you trying to kill me? Or... no... you tried to capture me!" she growled, readying her attack. "Prepare to meet your maker, human!"****

"Dad?" Moonstone exclaimed, freezing in place, his eyes going wide. "Ohhh shit..."****

Dice's eyes went wide as she clamped her mouth shot and closed her eyes.****

Mr. Scifo watched in surprise as a burst of smoke came out of the Latias' mouth as something exploded inside it. ****

"Peh..." Dice moaned opening her mouth and letting the smoke fade unencumbered. She glared at Moonstone. "Thou hafth to tell meh thethe thingths eathlieath!"****

"How the hell was _I_supposed to know my dad was coming? Crap, what do we do? He's not going to understand us because we're talking like Pokemon now! Luna, what do we do?"****

Mr. Scifo gaped at the scene before him, rubbing his eyes in disbelief. "Wha? A... Blue Espeon? A purple Ponyta? How..." Noticing the display was activated, he turned to look at it for only a second before exclaiming, "What are you doing with my son's equipment? Luna, why did you let them in? Why are you letting them mess with his stuff?"****

Luna glanced to the still frozen Moonstone before whipping around, typing as fast as her small paws would allow her. The only thought running through Moonstone's mind was, ~My dad is going to kill me... He's going to throw me out, and then he's going to kill me. He's going to beat me up, then throw me out, and then kill me in the place that he's thrown me!~****

"Moonstone? Where are you? Luna, if that's a voice recording, it's _not_funny!" Mr. Scifo snapped at the Umbreon,****

"Moon! You have to calm your dad, dude!" Dice snapped. "Come on!"****

"Calm _him_down? How the hell did he hear me? I didn't say that out loud! Besides, it's not like he can understand what I'm saying!" Trying to calm himself down and become rational, he started chanting to himself, 'Think of a plan, think of a plan, think of a plan!'****

"If that plan doesn't involve getting your sorry butt out here, Xell, so help me, your ass is going to be grounded for eternity!" Mr. Scifo roared, stomping his foot to emphasize his point.****

Dice floated in front of Mr. Scifo and raised a hand in salutation. Then, she grabbed Moonstone pointed at him, then towards Mr. Scifo, then back at Moonstone. As he watched, wondering what the Legendary Pokemon was trying to say, Mr. Scifo slowly grew annoyed as the next hand movement went to point Dice's finger at her own head, rotating in tight little circles. "You're both crazy!" she explained.****

"Put me down, Dice!" Moonstone protested, being forced to face his father. "This isn't how to tell him what happened to me!"****

As Mr. Scifo stared at the two strangely colored Pokemon in front of him, he noticed something on the Espeon's head that he did not care much to see. "What are you doing with my son's goggles? Those things cost a fortune! Where is he? How did you steal them?"****

Dice shook the Espeon in front of Mr. Scifo. "Moon's dad! This is Moon! Look at his vacant expression! The slightly twisted smile! The twitching ears! The whiskers!"****

As Mr. Scifo kept staring at the Espeon, he noticed that it wouldn't look him in the eye, as it kept twisting its head away from him. He glanced back to the display screen, noticing the left part of the screen had DNA information covering it. He took a step closer, looking at the other two sections, his eyes starting to widen. Moonstone, desperate, yelled, "Luna! Shut it down! My dad will freak if he finds out like this! He'll think that I did it to myself, and then _he'll kill me!__Shut it down!"_****

"No, Luna! He has to know!" Dice shouted. "He can help Moon become a human again! Think about it!"****

"Not like this!" he retorted, writhing violently in Dice's grasp, struggling to get free. "There's a time and place, but there's also the _how!_This isn't the right way! Shut it _down_, Luna! My dad will th-"****

"MOONSTONE XELLIUS SCIFO, WHAT THE _HELL_DID YOU DO TO YOURSELF?" ****

Moonstone slid down to land unceremoniously on the floor as Dice simply let go. "Wow... he catches on quick... I thought Luna would turn it off for sure before he got there!"****

"Moon!" Luna cried out, rushing from her place on the computer to help him stand again. "What did you drop him like that? " ****

"I... sorry Moon..." Dice looked dazedly at the DNA chain. "How the hell is that possible? I thought you couldn't add an extra helix to a stable DNA without messing everything up..." she groaned. "I swear this is giving me a headache..."****

"Luna, I'm fine," Moonstone groaned, setting back to his paws shakily, leaning on Luna heavily. "It was an accident. Dice might be a bit of a bitch, but she wouldn't hurt me on purpose! Dad, on the other hand, err, paw, is-"****

His dad, however, had recovered from his stunned stupor. Walking up behind Moonstone stealthily, he lunged, snagging Moonstone from the floor. Spinning around to dump him onto the computer's glass interface, he asked heatedly, "What the hell happened? How could you be so reckless as to try a stupid ass experiment without telling us? And where have you been hiding? You made your mother sick with worry! Luna was flipping out, an-"****

Dice, having heard enough, floated up to Mr. Scifo and bopped him relatively gently on the head as she pulled Moonstone away from him. "Hey! Leave my Moony alone! I need him to figure out how to turn everyone else back into humans!"****

"Everyone _else_?" Moonstone exclaimed, shocked. ****

Dice just looked at him with a blank expression, before turning back to look at Mr. Scifo, narrowing her eyes protectively.****

"Wait a second... _MY_Moony? Hey, get your claws off my human, bitch! He's mine! Go find your own!" Luna growled.****

Moonstone blinked, his mind struggling to keep up with the arguing females. 'Wait a second, what... Are they... Arguing over _me_?'****

Mr. Scifo put his hand to his head, his eyes clouding in thought for a moment, before turning around and started running upstairs, shouting excitedly, "I'll be right back! It's time to start testing the prototype!"****

Dice smiled at Luna and then started scratching Moon behind the ears. "Buh- but he's my itsy-scratchy cuddly, purring little moony!" she laughed as Moonstone slowly melted into a purring mass of Pokemon and at the indignant look in Luna's face.****

"H-hey, stop that!" Moonstone weakly protested, struggling to keep his head clear as she scratched him.****

Before Moonstone was finished with his request, Luna was already executing a Quick Attack at the Latias, exclaiming as she did so, "I said _leave my master alone!_**" **She followed it up with a weak Swift attack, not wanting to damage more equipment in the lab than needed.****

Dice meeped the moment she saw the attack coming and pulled up Moonstone in front of her, hiding her face behind the Espeon. "Moony! Protect me!" only to blink when Moonstone slid down, wiggling away as she was distracted. "Uh-oh..."****

"Should we be worried?" Cassie asked as Dice smashed against the wall and then was blasted by the follow-up attack.****

Dice coughed as she shook her head. "Ugh..." she glared at Luna. "You hit like a girl!" she coughed again. "Fine, fine, peace... Luna..."****

Blade blinked, remembering how easily Luna had handled him, even if he wouldn't admit it aloud. "These people are cuh-razey!"****

Axew was still staring at the DNA chain. "oooooh... colors..."****

Dice, for her part, slowly drifted up to Luna and put Moonstone back on the floor, still chuckling but trying not to provoke the more experienced Pokemon into an actual fight. "Well, I hope your dad doesn't kill you... but I also hope his new invention is not going to trap me in a Pokeball!"****

Moonstone, still trying to recover from what just happened, said distractedly, "I... Uh... I honestly have no idea what it is he's heading to go get... Don't worry, if he _does_catch you, I'll make sure that he feeds you only the best there is, okay? We treat our Pokemon like family, right Luna?" he teased, grinning evilly at the Latias.****

"Oh yeah, definitely," she agreed, nodding sagely, eager to take another dig at the Pokemon who _dared_to abuse her master in any way. "I get my own metal cage and everything! I even get to have bread and water twice a day!"****

Dice chuckled. "It does sound like the _ultimate_in Pokemon home experience, but I'll pass... if anything, I'd like to be a Wild Pokemon for a while, you know?"****

"Why would you _want_to be a wild Pokemon?" Moonstone asked. "I mean, what about all of the technology? Wouldn't you miss civilization?"****

Dice's smile looked a bit strained at the question. "Y-yeah, I guess..." she looked at the others, then back at Moonstone, then at Luna. "Yeah... who would want to be something they're not, right?" she chuckled. "Here Luna, watch over Moon so he doesn't get into trouble, ok? I'll look at the display in the meantime..."****

"I don't take orders from you," Luna replied stiffly, her back stiff. "The only person I listen to is Moonstone, not a... Latias like you!"****

Dice smiled, "Whatever helps you sleep, dear..."****

Dice floated up to the computer. It was far more advanced that the ones in the labs where she had work before as an intern, doing sketches for text books, research notes and such. She decided not to touch it... even if it would probably get a funny reaction out of Moonstone. Dice was content to simply look at the data available. She didn't get everything but... it gave her an idea of what had happened, even if vague and no info on how.****

Luna was standing protectively next to Moonstone, eyeing the Latias warily, when Mr. Scifo burst back into the room, a large, dome-like contraption on his head. Right behind him, being half-dragged along was a middle-aged woman with a floury apron, her sandy-blonde hair a mess as she protested, "Just what is so important that you had to drag me here, Deran! The Banana Bread is going... to... burn," she finished softly, her face becoming blank as she saw half a dozen strangely colored Pokemon scattered around the room. "Daren... Why are there a bunch of wild Pokemon in my son's lab?" she asked quietly, her eyes flickering back and forth among the strangers.****

"Moonstone turned himself into a Pokemon and didn't tell us is what I can figure," he answered quickly, rushing straight for the console.****

"What? No I did _not!" _Moonstone protested quickly, straightening in indignation, forgetting that his parents couldn't understand him. ****

Dice looked at Moonstone's parents then sighed. "How are we going to tell them the truth? Can't you type it or something, Moon?"****

Moonstone blinked, his jaw dropping. "How the _hell_did I not think of that? It's so _obvious!_**"**

Rushing to the console, he ignored his father's protests as he rushed to open a word processing program, before typing as rapidly as his small paws would allow, "I did _not_turn myself into a Pokemon! Someone _else_knocked me out on the way home, and when I woke up a couple hours ago, I looked like this! We w-"****

He was suddenly picked up from the console and into his mother's arms, who was holding him as tightly as she could, removing the goggles from the top of his head as she buried her face in his coat, murmuring quickly, "Oh my poor Xell! That's terrible! We've been worried sick when you didn't come home, and we didn't know what happened to you, and we-"****

Dice softly pulled on Mrs. Scifo's arm. "Uh, ma'am? You're choking the pussy."****

Moonstone jerked his head up in relief, gasping for air, his eyes wide from the adrenaline rush. "Thank you, Dice," he gasped, his chest heaving as he regained respiratory functions.****

Mrs. Scifo looked in surprise at the purple Latias, before turning to look at her son once again, who was still breathing a little heavily, but was recovering. "I-I'm so sorry, honey! Are you alright?"****

Giving a small smile, Moonstone nodded, sighing as he settled back down, knowing that his mother, being the touchy-feely mother that she was, wouldn't put him down until she absolutely had to. He quickly repressed a memory from his early childhood, where he had been stuck with her for several days when he was sick. He appreciated that she was a very caring, loving mother, but sometimes she just didn't know when others needed space. If she would ju-****

His thoughts were wiped clean form his mind as she started to stroke his back, gently pulling his tail from where it was dangling over her arm, placing it next to his body as she continued to pet him. His father opened and closed his mouth a few times before asking, "Umm, darling? We aren't going to find out what happened if don't let him down to type out the answers..."****

"Let Dice do it," Moonstone muttered blissfully, twisting his head to better receive the attention. "I'm tired. Before we got back home, we had to run for a couple hours, and then Luna hit me before we could explain anything. I don't have the energy fo-_Yeah! Right there! Ooohhhhh..._**" **he murmured, melting into a pool of purring fur as his mother started rubbing the base of his ears.****

Dice sighed and rolled her eyes, then turned to the keyboard and typed. "Greetings, Pokemon Slavers! I mean, humans. How can we answer your questions?"****

"Well, how about explaining who you ll are, what happened to you, and how you got here? Leave nothing out," Mr. Scifo requested, sitting down in a large, comfy computer chair.****

"Sure thing, human! Let's start at the beginning, when I woke up with Moon..." Dice typed. "He woke me up when he was complaining about being furry..."

.o.O.o. End Chapter 2 .o.O.o.


	3. Chapter 3

**A New World**

**By**

**WYLD STALLYNZ**

****

As Dice started to type, Luna looked back to Mrs. Scifo, tugging at her pant leg gently to get her attention. "Yes, dear?" Mrs. Scifo asked, looking down to Luna.****

Luna pointed upstairs with her paw, her let ear ticking downwards, imitating a clock, before uttering a short, sharp, "Bree!" ****

Mrs. Scifo blinked, then gasped, her free hand going to her mouth. "The banana bread! I completely forgot about it! Thank you, dear!" ****

Moonstone's eyes flashed open as his mother put her other arm around him, stabilizing him against her as she started rushing back upstairs and through the halls to head back to her kitchen. While Moonstone's kitchen was small and more utilitarian, his mother's kitchen on the other side of the house was much larger, with many different appliances littering the counter space. ****

She carefully set Moonstone back down on the floor, slipping on oven mittens as she hurriedly took out a large, steaming loaf of banana bread. "Oh thank Arceus... It's still good! Thanks again, dear," she smiled, thanking the Umbreon by stroking her a couple times, before turning her attention back to the food she was baking.****

Moonstone took a deep breath, his body still flowing with a little adrenaline. He sighed, before walking briskly around the kitchen to burn off the nervous energy, trying to calm himself. After a moment, however, when he saw Luna staring at him, he quirked an eyebrow, inquiring, "Moonsong? You okay?"****

"Hmm?" she blinked, her eyes half-lidded. After a second, however, her eyes shot open, glancing away as she replied quickly, "Y-yeah, of course I'm fine! I was just umm... Making sure you weren't hurt from before?"****

"Oh... Thanks a lot, M-Moonsong," he yawned, his body shaking slightly as he took a deep breath, his tongue sticking out. He sagged, swaying slightly. "Ugh... I think I need to sleep," he murmured, his eyes going out of focus slightly.****

Moonsong rushed to his side, supporting him again as she slowly coaxed him over to a corner of the kitchen where a large, purple cushion lay. Encouraging him, she helped him lay down on her cushion, smiling to herself as he gave another cat-like yawn, curling up into a ball instinctively, tucking his paws underneath himself. He was asleep within moments.****

Luna wasn't sure for how long she stood staring at the sleeping form in front of her, when she was suddenly picked up by Mrs. Scifo, who stroked her slowly, asking softly, "And why are you just standing there, hmm dear?"****

Luna blushed, her ears folding against her head as she glanced away, grateful that Moon's mom wouldn't be able to understand anything she said. "I-I was just, umm..."****

Much to her surprise, Mrs. Scifo giggled, saying in a teasing voice, "You were... What, eyeing Moonstone now that he's an Espeon, a Pokemon like you?"****

Luna's jaw dropped before she glanced away quickly, her face starting to heat up once more. "O-of course not! Don't be ridiculous! E-even if I did, there's no way he'd feel the same way!"****

Mrs. Scifo, not being able to understand, just kept stroking the Umbreon gently, continuing, "It's only natural to be attracted to your own kind, but don't be stupid, alright? He's still Moonstone, and suggesting something like that might hurt your friendship..."****

Setting her back down on the floor, Mrs. Scifo went back to baking, hoping to distract herself while she waited for her husband to get some results as to how and why this happened to their son. Luna, on the other hand, padded back over to Moonstone slowly, talking quietly to herself. "I... she's right, of course. I can't entertain crazy ideas like that... He's still going to see me as his pet, not his equal, even if he is an Espeon... A gorgeous, muscular Epseon with fur that matches mine," she continued, her eyes starting to grow half-lidded, before they widened in shock, shaking her head rapidly. "No! Can't think like that! I..."****

Sighing, she settled down against Moonstone, whispering to herself, "I just need some sleep... Yeah, that's it. I haven't slept in two days, and that's what's making me think such crazy things!"****

Having convinced herself of what the problems were, she settled in against Moonstone, falling asleep as she closed her eyes, a small smile on her face.****

.o.O.o.****

"... and that's how the Rayquaza Cult was founded," Dice finished, smiling at Moonstone's befuddled father. "Any more questions?"****

"Duuude..." Axew whispered in awe. "And I thought I was spaced..."****

Cassie raised a hoof.****

Dice raised an eyebrow. "You, the Ponyta with the coat color... what was your name again?"****

"Cassie," the Ponyta replied. "What I want to know is why they put you in charge if the one that actually started the cult was Prof. Oak?"****

Blaze stared at her. "Are you seriously asking her questions about that?"****

"Ahem, I will type it for the benefit of the human. Yes, well, although Prof. Oak was the one that started the cult, he was too far drunk to actually claim leadership, and since I was too young to drink and had only joined because they needed someone to illustrate their pamphlets, I just made a case proving to them that they needed me more than I needed them. And _then_they made me their leader."****

Blaze sighed and turned to the Axew. "Can you believe that?"****

"Duude... that's like, crazy!" Sage agreed. "I mean, whoa man! Just, whoa... I never thought I'd be standing in the same room as the Great Pazooz of the Rayquaza Cult!"****

"The great what now?" Blaze asked.****

"Yeah, bro... like, I thought she was craaaaazy, as in, lost beyond the redeeming powers of Mary Jane... but she _knows _bro... she _knooows..."_****

"Knows what, exactly?"****

"The secret origins of the Cult!" Axew whispered in awe.****

"But... you just said earlier that she was clearly spaced!" Blade argued.****

"No, my fiery bro... we are _all_spaced."****

"No, we're not!" Blade snapped. "I don't do drugs! I keep my body clean of-"****

"Like, we're all in a planet, right? And planets float in space, my friend... you just don't see it because we're blinded..."****

"... by the system," Blade growled. "You're going to say we're blinded by the system, aren't you?"****

"Nah... it's the light dude; the light blinds you because the truth is too shiny to truly comprehend..."****

Blade started smacking his face on the floor.****

Mr. Scifo looked at the odd behaviour of Blade, who he had just found out was a fighter and almost hesitantly raised his hand.****

Dice nodded and typed away. "Yes, human?"****

"Why is Blade smacking his face on the metal floor?"****

Dice looked at the Cyndaquil as it stumbled back after a particularly vicious face-slam. She then typed, "He's been stoned."****

"Oh..." Mr. Scifo said a bit uncertainly as his hand lowered.****

Cassie, for her part, was holding her head in her hooves. "Why did I have to end up here with these people? Why? I really didn't hate my job that much... dealing with drunkards is easier than dealing with this gang... why?" she lamented.****

Mr. Scifo cleared his throat. "So... were you all this crazy, or did the transformation somehow addle you?"****

"This is our coping method, human," Dice typed in response. "We had to protect our fragile minds after your son had his way with all of us."****

Mr. Scifo's eyebrow twitched. "My son what?"****

"Had his way with us," Dice typed. "He completely took over..."****

"What in the name of Ho-Oh are you talking about?" Cassie asked, reading the screen with incredulous eyes. "Dice, are you really that-"****

"Especially poor Cassie," Dice typed. "He made her trot her way all the way here."****

Mr. Scifo's face was neutral. "I will give you one chance only to retract from what you have just implied, even if it was in jest."****

Dice stared at Mr. Scifo.****

Mr. Scifo stared back.****

"I like you, human..." Dice typed grudgingly. "You're a tough nut to crack, Mr. Scifo."****

Moon's dad smiled ever-so-slightly. "Thank you. Now, let's see the data my son collected..."****

The group watched in silence as Mr. Scifo pulled up graphs and studied the DNA strands on the computer. Minutes passed and the only sound other than the typing was Wave's soft snoring. Slowly the others curled up where they were, still watching until, one by one, they fell asleep as Dice observed and Mr. Scifo typed.****

After some time, Moonstone's father glanced at Dice, who had a far away look in her eyes. "I'm surprised this doesn't bother you as much as the others," he said.****

Dice started, and looked over at him before floating up and typing on the word processor. "What do you mean? I always joke around when I'm nervous."****

"That might be true, but you don't seem to have as much trouble dealing with your situation as you might want all of us to think," Mr. Scifo said softly, trying to not wake up the others. "You seem almost glad this happened."****

Dice remained silent for a moment. "I am," she typed. "I'm not who I used to be anymore. I don't want a cure. I don't want to be a human again, and be once more on square one. I... I wasn't happy with who I was."****

Mr. Scifo looked at the Latias with a neutral expression. "There's a story behind this, I think."****

Dice snorted, and then looked guiltily at the others. When no-one stirred she sighed. "Yeah... I just recently turned eighteen..." she typed, then looked at Moonstone's father. "You have to promise to keep this a secret... I don't even know why I trust you and Moon with my stuff, but don't tell even him about this, okay?"****

Mr. Scifo nodded.****

"I just turned 18... and the first thing I did was leave home without anything other than some empty Pokeballs... I went straight to the Pokemon Center and asked Nurse Joy to help me file the paperwork needed to be legally free of my parents."****

Mr. Scifo blinked, frowning as he looked at the Latias, who did not return the stare. "That's... I know that's possible, and it's a service provided for all Trainers but... why would you... did they... did they abuse you?"****

Dice shook her head. "Nah. I just... I was never close to them... they weren't _that_bad but... they weren't that great either... we never had any real emotions to tie us together... I just couldn't... relate to them." She shrugged, doing her best to ignore the look of almost pity Mr. Scifo was giving her. "I think... I think they're happier without me," she typed a bit faster. "And it's not like I really mind... who needs a family anyway? I mean, look at me! I get along better with Moon and you than my parents!"****

Mr. Scifo stopped her rambling by placing his hand on her shoulder. "It's okay," he said, deleting the conversation from the word processor. "You don't have to worry about that anymore... you're your own Pokemon now."****

Dice trembled a bit, and nodded. Then cleared her throat as she typed, "What is taking Moon so long, anyway?"****

Mr. Scifo was silent. "Dice, what's your relationship with my son? You seemed a bit comfortable around him."****

Dice chuckled as she typed. "Ah, that, I just like to tease him. He needs to relax, you know? I admit we hit it off from the get-go, but he's more like a really good friend than anything else. I have no emotional interest in him, no offense."****

Mr. Scifo chuckled as well. "I see, like a brother, you would say?"****

Dice blinked. "Yeah... I guess I could call him my bro..." she giggled. "I certainly tease him enough..."****

Mr. Scifo smiled. "Well, then, how about we adopt you into the family and you can claim him as an actual 'Bro'?"****

.o.O.o.****

Moonstone groaned slightly, waking up slowly, trying to figure out what it was that had woken him up from his great nap. He blinked a few times, before he registered what he was seeing. Curled up next to him was Luna, her hind legs and lower torso curled at his stomach. Her torso resting on his, her head resting on his shoulder. His face flushed when he noticed how close her head was to his, a blush forming wildly across his cheeks. He chuckled, however, when he saw that her mouth was open a little, just starting to drool. His body shook just a little, causing her to moan cutely, snuggling closer to Moonstone as she started to purr very quietly. ****

Moonstone was quieted by the blush spreading once more across his face as he stared at her. 'What is wrong with me? She's just Luna...'****

Struggling with his thoughts, he very slowly and carefully maneuvered his way from under Luna, watching as she clutched her tail with her forelegs, pulling it to her chest as she hugged it in her sleep. 'Wow, she's really cute like that,' he thought to himself, his face flushing once more. 'Gah! Why do I keep thinking that? I just need to wake up. Yeah, that's it.'****

Deeply flustered, he headed straight downstairs, knowing that doing some research would help clear his mind. That's why he loved science so much. It might be hard to understand, but every law eventually broke down to simple equations just waiting to be solved. His thoughts were interrupted, however, as he heard Dice typing away at the computer. He paused at the bottom of the steps, listening in as his father said, "Dice, what's your relationship with my son? You seemed a bit comfortable around him."****

He snuck his head around the corner, padding forward silently, trying to read the screen from so far away, surprised that he could make out her response. 'I guess cats have better vision. Awesome!'****

His ears twitched, pivoting as they turned to hear his dad ask, "I see, like a brother, you would say?"****

Moonstone's eyes widened slightly as he stopped moving, rooted to the spot. 'Oh no... Please no. Don't you even go there; she will make my life a living h-'****

"Well, then, how about we adopt you into the family and you can claim him as an actual 'Bro'?"****

Moonstone's left eye twtched involuntarily, his brain shutting down as he tried to comprehend what his father had just suggested, but failed. Only managing to utter a squeak, he blacked out, falling to his side senseless, the shock overwhelming him.****

.o.O.o.****

Dice stared at Mr. Scifo in disbelief. Had she heard right? After going through the trouble of legally disowning him-herself from her family, she was being asked to jump into a new one? And she hadn't even known these people for more than what, two hours? Were the rich really that insane? Or did they really like her? Was it out of pity? Because if it was, there was no way in hell that she-****

Mr. Scifo and Dice heard a thump and turned to look in surprise at Moonstone, who had apparently heard the last part of the conversation and passed out.****

Dice looked back at Mr. Scifo. "I'll do it."****

.o.O.o.****

"Mooooooon~" Dice called, poking the Espeon on the ribs with one of her claws. "Wakey, wakey!"****

Moonstone twitched, but didn't wake up, his tail immobile on the floor.****

Dice sighed. Then poked harder. "Waaahahahahaaake uuuuuoooop..." When it didn't work, she started buzzing like a mosquito around his head, sometimes louder, sometimes softer to give the impression that it was flying away and back.****

Moonstone groaned, his brain finally starting to reboot, though only enough to cause him to wince, trying to shut out the visual and audio annoyances coming from the room in general.****

Dice sighed and picked up the Espeon from under his arms and shook him. "I said wake up!"****

Luna walked into the room in time to see Dice shaking Moonstone somewhat roughly. Having only just woken up as well, Luna, jumping to conclusions, yelled, "Hey! I thought I told you not to hurt my master! Put him down gently right this second!" she demanded, bristling as she bared her fangs.****

"Ugh, alright, alright, 'm awake!" Moonstone protested groggily, struggling to open his eyes and get his vision to focus. "Luna? Where'd you go?"****

Dice's smile became Haunter-like. "Oooh... Luna? Did you just... wake up and call for Luna? Oh, this is awesome..." She grinned at the Umbreon and wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. "Been having fun you two? Cuddling up? Kissing?"****

Both Luna and Moonstone's faces turned red, looking away from each other as they both tried to stammer protests. "W-wh-what are you talking ab-of course we weren't-I mean, the idea of that is-"****

"Delicious? Scrumptious? Appealing? Really nice? As in, really, really nice? Something you want to do every day of every week of every year?" Dice grinned like a maniac. Time to twist the knife. "Oh, Luna! My brother is growing up so fast!" she squealed, then said a bit calmer, "Take it easy on him, he's... inexperienced."****

If Moonstone's face was red before, now he was violet from embarrassment. He was so angry and so embarrassed at the same time that all he could do was leave his jaw open, trying to protest, but failing. Luna was not much better, her face flaming as she now her best not to imagine herself and her master in his new form in an intimate environment, but that only made things worse for the poor Umbreon. Finally, the images becoming too intense for her, she ran back upstairs, away from the horrible, _horrible_creature who would suggest that they would do such..._Inappropriate _actions!****

While Luna ran off, trying not to think of them cuddling, and perhaps even kissing, Moonstone finally regained his speech as he screamed at the top of his lungs, "What the hell is your problem? Why would you even _suggest_something like that?"****

Dice chuckled. "What, isn't she a bit too protective of you? She likes you, mark my words. I've been a Pokemon Watcher for a few years; I _know _these things."****

Moonstone, who had just began to recover, turned purple again as he protested, "W-what? D-don't be ridiculous! I-I mean, a Pokemon and a human-"****

"A Pokemon and a _Pokemon,_you mean." Dice interrupted, wagging her eyebrows again.****

"B-but... T-that's still the same thing!" Moonstone weakly protested, dropping from her grasp. "I'm still a human at heart, and isn't that what it comes down to?"****

"What are you guys talking about that has Moon all worked up?" Mr. Scifo interrupted, watching how his son's face was still purple, wondering what was said by Dice to make Luna run off like she did.****

Dice went up to the computer and typed, "Oh, I'm just teasing him and letting him know that I accepted being part of his family... he's surprised to find out he has a little sister now."****

Dice grinned at Moonstone. "Right? Besides, you'll find out if what I said was true sooner or later. I'll apologize to Luna if it makes you feel better."****

"Y-yeah, you'd better go apologize to her! Go on, get out of here! I have experiments to run, research to be done, and I'd _like _to do it while I'm still alive!"****

Dice chuckled. "I'll leave you to it..." She flew up the stairs after Luna, leaving Moonstone behind with his dad and a bunch of sleeping Pokemon.****

Sighing in relief, Moonstone turned to the computer, typing, "Figures you'd adopt a troll into the family... Here's what she REALLY said..."****

.o.O.o.****

Dice floated up the stairs and took her first look at the kitchen. It was big and had a lot of counter space. "Awesome." Dice grinned as her eyes slowly settled on the door that led to the Living Room, where she could hear Mrs. Scifo talking softly to someone.****

Slowly, she peeked through the open door to see a slightly trembling Luna curled up on Mrs. Scifo's 'or should I call her mom?' lap as the human woman slowly stroked the Umbreon's back.****

Noticing movement from the next room, Mrs. Scifo looked up, seeing the purple Latias. "Oh, hello dear. Did you need something? What are you looking for?"****

Dice smiled pleasantly and did her best to bow politely at the Scifo matriarch. Then she carefully pointed at Luna. "Can I borrow Luna for a minute?"****

"Hmm? Is she alright?" Mrs. Scifo asked, trying to guess at what the Latias' cooing voice was saying. "I don't rightly know. The poor dear ran in here just a minute ago, shaking furiously! I've been trying to calm her down, a-"****

"Leave me alone," Luna muttered, interrupting her master's mother. "If you know what's good for you, go get lost."****

"Oh, come on, Luna, give me a chance..." Dice said floating slightly closer, but leaving enough personal space so that the Umbreon wouldn't feel pressured. "I'm sorry I upset you, I just want to talk for a bit, okay?"****

"Talk about what?" she muttered, glaring at the offending Pokemon. "Talk about how you insulted my honor for even insinuating that I'd do anything... inappropriate... to my master?"****

Dice sighed. "Look, Luna, it's just teasing okay? I admit it was a bit too vicious, especially since you don't know how I am and how much of a jerk and tease I can be at times, but it's just... well, in part it's a coping method and in part this is how I am... and I think being a Latias makes it even worse! I see a chance and I jump on it! I can see you really care for Moon and perhaps I shouldn't have taken that jump to tease you about something that's not on either of your minds right now, but I really didn't want to hurt your feelings." Dice smiled. "Can you forgive me? Maybe we can be friends?"****

"I honestly don't know," Luna replied after a moment of sullen silence. "I mean, yeah, you're supposedly a human who got turned into a Pokemon, but _every_Pokemon knows not to suggest anything like... _that_... You couldn't insult someone more if you tried!"****

"Well, I don't really know Pokemon social rules! Except than what I have observed in Wild Pokemon, and honestly, Pokemon seem to be less likely to beat around the bush than humans." Dice grinned. "But, having said that, I understand that this is perhaps a bit too much for you, so for your benefit I will curve my opinions of such matters while in your presence as a sign of peace." Dice's grin again creeped into Haunter levels. "Besides, as the newest member of the family I shouldn't really provoke any of the others, right?"****

Luna blinked, then said slowly, "No... Just because you got turned into a Pokemon like Moonstone does _not_mean you're family!"****

"Oh, nonono, I agree, uh... sis," Dice said, her smile evolving before the Umbreon from Haunter-like into Gengar-like proportions. "But Mr. Scifo _offering_to adopt me and me _accepting_does..." Dice giggled. "Yay! I'm Moon's sister! Aren't you happy?"****

Luna's eye twitched, her mind unable to comprehend what the Latias just told her. "But... No, that's not possible! Moonstone's parents couldn't have signed the papers already! Besides, you just met! Why the heck would-"****

"It's easy, actually!" Dice said, floating closer. "You see, since I had already handled a lot of paperwork in the Pokecenter, all we need to do was connect to their system with Moon's computer, fill out a couple of forms, and voila!"****

"B-but... No, you are _not_my sister! You have to _earn_that title!" Luna yelled as she stood up, rushing form the room.****

"Err... O-okay then..." Mrs. Scifo stammered, watching as Luna ran form the room. "Umm... Are you hungry or tired, dear?" she asked the Latias hesitantly. "And I'm sorry I have to ask, but I don't really know how to tell if... You're a Latias, right? Aren't you supposed to be red?"****

Dice nodded, then, seeing a pencil and a small notepad, she quickly wrote. "Supposedly, but I'm special!" then she scribbled a bit more. "I hope Luna calms down; she's a bit upset with all that's happening."****

"Yeah, I guess," Mrs. Scifo said, somewhat stunned that the Latias could write, until she remembered, "So, you were transformed too, right? Was it... Did it hurt much? What did they do?"****

Dice shrugged, then scribbled, "I was a human and... I'm a Latias now... it didn't hurt, or if it did I was probably unconscious... other than changing me, they pretty much left me as I was... I don't know how they did it. But it's okay." Dice sighed. "I'd better go to Moon and the others; we have to decide what to do..." she smiled at Mrs. Scifo. "And thanks for the offer for food and rest, but I'm okay for now... I don't think I could sleep yet."****

"If you're sure, dear. If you need anything, just come and ask, alright?"****

Making sure that she was fine, Mrs. Scifo sat back down in her chair as Dice flew downstairs. "Hey, Moon, did you find anything?" the Latias asked as soon as she was in the Lab again.****

"Young lady, just what do you have to say for yourself?" Mr. Scifo asked, crossing his arms.****

"I didn't eat the cookies! I swear! It was... uh... Latios did it! He followed me here!" Dice said immediately, eyes wide.****

Mr. Scifo blinked, then turned to Moonstone, who then turned to Dice, smirking as he winked cheekily at her, typing in what she said, finishing with, "True story!"****

"But, seriously, what seems to be the problem?" Dice asked.****

Mr. Scifo frowned, replying, "I don't appreciate lying, Dice. Is it true you were making fun of Luna and Moonstone?"****

"But... I did say I was teasing them!" Dice sighed, floating up next to Moonstone and typing. "Sorry if I understated that... I wasn't expecting Luna to take things so seriously, I already apologized to her for that, although she doesn't know if she'll forgive me anytime soon."****

"You'd better have," he replied, relaxing a little. "A little teasing is fine, but you have to know when to stop, and you went too far this time, you have to learn when to stop. It's hard enough on them that Moonstone was transformed, teasing them about their feelings is not going to help at all, and if you want to be part of this family you have to really respect certain boundaries."****

Dice's head was low. "Sorry... dad."****

Mr. Scifo nodded. "Well, you already apologized to Luna, now, apologize to your brother."****

Dice looked at Moonstone uncertainly. "Do I have to?" she asked.****

Although Mr. Scifo didn't understand exactly what "Lai... tias?" meant, he could well imagine what she was trying to say. "Yes. Yes you have to."****

Dice sighed. She half-heartedly raised a claw and reluctantly patted Moon's shoulder. "Sowwy."****

"... Eenope," Moonstone replied with a deadpan expression. "Either you say it like you mean it, or go away."****

Dice growled. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath before opening and locking her amber irises with Moonstone's. "I'm sorry I pushed too far, Moon." she said slowly and deliberately. "Please forgive me?"****

Moonstone kept his gaze on her for a moment, waiting to see if she would break, before relenting, sighing, "Yeah, fine... I forgive you..."****

"Yay!" Dice hugged Moonstone. "Thanks, big brother!"  
**  
"**Oh... Right... That," Moon commented, grimacing ever so slightly. "I forgot about that... Yeah, you're uh... Welcome... Sissy," he finished with a grin, his eyes shining mischievously. ****

Mr. Scifo nodded. "I can see that you two are better now. I'd better go see your mother, Moonstone; she should probably hear about the new addition to the family."****

After he left, Dice glared at Moon. "Sissy?" She sighed, then cuddled up to him. "I guess this means we'll keep our relationship a secret, Moony?"****

"Wait, what?" Blade said as he looked at the pair in confusion. "You mean, you two are together as in... _togehter?_**"**

Dice feigned a gasp. "Oh, my! Moony! He found out! What will we ever do?"****

Thinking quickly, Moonstone sighed, answering tragically, "There is nothing for us to do but to throw ourselves from a cliff! Ladies first," he finished, shoving Dice away.****

"Oh no! I'm faaaaaaling!" Dice gasped... "Wait, I'm not... I can fly." She deadpanned. Then chuckled. "But seriously now, what are we doing now? Are we really just going to wait it out here, or are we actually going to try and find what happened to us?"****

"Wait it out?" Moonstone asked, tilting his head. "What, is that really what you think we're doing? No way! You think I'm just going to let them get away with what they've been doing? _Hell no!_You wanna know why we came here when we escaped instead of giving them hell?" He turned away from Dice, looking at everyone else. "Do you all wanna know why we came here?"****

"Duude... I know why we're here..." Axew said. "It's aaaall part of the plan, you know? We think we have free will, but we don't... we are only playing in the hand of Arceus..."****

"But... Arceus doesn't have hands..." Cassie pointed out.****

"It's a metaphor, dudette... just like blood-ties... metaphors we use to hide and excuse the obligations imposed on us... that's why we have to be free..."****

"Butterfree?" Dice asked.****

"Yeah, bro... completely, like... totally free..." Axew nodded sagely.****

"How are you still high if you haven't smoked or snorted anything in several hours?" Blade asked.****

"Dude... being high is a state of mind..."****

"Well, yes-"****

"But you don't have to snort or smoke to release your mind, bro! Don't lie to yourself!" Axew said, eyes wide, arms slowly opening to encompass everyone in the room.****

Dice looked at Moonstone. "I think he's getting cranky without his fix..." she whispered.****

It was then that Wave slowly woke up and walked in front of Sage, drawing the Axew's attention to the flowers on her green mane. "Duuuuuude..." the Axew grinned, stepping up to the Whimsicot and plucking out a couple of flowers.****

The group watched in disturbed silence as the Axew proceeded to ground them up in his paws, and produced a piece of paper out of somewhere. Sage carefully sprinkled the crushed flowers into the paper and rolled it up.****

"Bro... I gotta go for a five minute break..." Sage said to Moonstone. "I'll see myself out..."****

The gathered Pokemon watched in silence as the Axew somehow lit the spiff and made his way up the stairs to the back exit.****

"But..." Blade whimpered.****

"There, there..." Dice sighed, patting the Cyndaquil on his head. "Let the stoner go... don't try to understand..."****

Moonstone blinked, watching him leave, before starting awkwardly, "Alrighty then... Okay, why did we come back? First of all, we needed a plan. If we had just run around randomly, we would have eventually gotten caught again, and then who would bring them to justice? They have to have _dozens_of Pokemon, and unless you're doing a ton better than I am, we can't really fight. We came back to make a plan on how to sneak back into the building to find information about what they did to us, so that we can bring them to justice."****

Blade collapsed, unconscious.****

"Sorry!" Wave apologized. "I think I discovered how to use Sleeping Powder!"****

Dice coughed. "Uh... a-anyway, you were saying, Moon?"****

"... Right," Moonstone continued. "Well, I'm not sure why, but either we were insanely lucky that we didn't meet any guards, or those guards were out doing something. I'm guessing that, what with what time it was we woke up, they were out gassing more people. So if we head back, it seems like the night might actually be the best time for us to go, as they'll be busy."****

"... I think they're just incompetent." Dice deadpanned. "Seriously. Incompetent. A drunk Magikarp could do their jobs better. A. Drunk. Magikarp, Moon." She shook her head and sighed. "But, are you sure that they'll still be there tonight? Won't they notice we escaped?"****

"That's a good point, Dice," Moonstone conceded, tilting his head in thought. "That's certainly something we need to think about. Now, it's only 9 in the morning, which means we have about... 13 hours to relax before we should head out. Now, the question is whether or not we can learn any moves before then, and who is going back. I need to know now, before we start out serious planning, is there anyone who doesn't want to head back?"****

When everyone remained silent, he smiled. "Excellent! Now, here's the plan. If you need to eat or sleep, do that first. Once you've got your energy back, we should try to see if we can't learn a move or two in case we get caught. For now, however, I'm going to plan for a stealth mission. We're going to sneak in, find some info, maybe some tangible evidence if we're lucky, then get the hell out of there again to bring it back here! Sound like a plan?"****

Dice shrugged. "Sure. I don't even know what powers other than that little ball of Mist I used earlier today I have..." she looked back at Moon. "Any ideas? I never got to see a Latias while observing Pokemon..." she looked away and muttered. "Nor any Legendary Pokemon, for that matter..."****

"Hmm, not that I recall, but... Wait a second, I know!" he exclaimed, turning to Dice with wide eyes. "I remember a certain legend that says Latios and Latias could change their appearance to be whatever they wanted it to be! Latias was rumoured to transform into a hot girl from time to time, so that she could freely wander the streets of Alto Mare. Maybe you can too! Not that I'd know how to go about trying," he admitted, frowning.****

Blade snorted, exclaiming, "Who cares about some stupid camouflage abilities when there's fighting moves to learn? Come on!"****

Dice yawned. "I... I might pass out for a while..." she said, her hovering a bit less stable. "I haven't slept at all... and..." she yawned again. Slowly she drifted to a corner of the lab and lowered down to the floor. Within moments she had curled up and was snoring softly.****

Moonstone gaped at Dice, shaking his head slowly. "Ohhhhh no... No guest of the Scifo's sleeps on the _floor!_**"**

At that statement, all of the others shared glances.****

"We all slept on the floor!" Cassie whispered harshly to Wave.****

"Different standards for different Pokemon," Wave whispered back.****

Padding over, Moon poked Dice somewhat roughly, until she woke up. "Oi, what do ya think you're doing, Sissy? You do _not_sleep on the floor, okay? It's insulting to my hospitality! Now come on, I'll show you to your new room." Turning around, he asked, "Any of you guys tired as well? Anyone want a shower, food, anything?"****

Blade raised a paw. "I could use some beer. And a sandwich."****

Dice blinked heavily and looked at Moonstone in confusion for a moment. "Huh? Oh... it's Moony... hi... I can't... I can't move bro..." her voice became barely a mumble. "... too tired..." her head dropped and she snapped it back up, blinking Noctowlishly. She yawned again and leaned her head on Moon's back, eyelids lowering again.****

Moonstone sighed, then said softly, "Alright, alright, come on, Sissy. Let's get you to a bed, silly Lati."****

"... -on't call me … sissy... gives the wrong impression to the ladies..." Dice muttered. Then she smiled, eyes closed. "...like Lati... sounds... nice..."****

Rolling his eyes, he turned to Blaze, instructing, "Should be right in the fridge, Blaze. Not many choices, I'm afraid, but that's because I know what I like, you know? If I don't have any you like, talk to my dad. He's got a modest collection to chose from."****

Blade's smiled could have crushed a lesser mind. "Thank you!" he said, running up the stairs and straight to the fridge.****

Wave smiled at Moon. "I think I can eat some salad, if you don't mind?"****

Cassie shrugged. "And I'd like to see a Pokedex... maybe I can figure out what I can do with this body..."****

"Just type away!" Moonstone replied, starting to climb the stairs. "You should be able to look up just about whatever you want on Yumi! She's just a little slow at times, so please be patient! The salad is in the fridge," he added to Wave absently.****

"Xell? What are you doing?" Luna asked, staring at Moonstone as he helped the semi-comatose Latias up the stairs past her.****

"Moonsong? O-oh, I'm just helping, um, Lati, to her room." Moonstone explained, rolling his eyes a little.****

"... soft..." Dice mumbled.****

"Oh, how... Nice of you, Moon," Luna commented, her voice a little strained. "I'll umm... Be outside then, if you need me."****

'Not that you seem to need me anymore,' she lamented, trying to keep her face neutral as she turned away and headed outside slowly.****

Moonstone watched her walk away. He was sure there was something wrong, but he couldn't place what it was. Shrugging to himself, he faced forward once more, helping Dice to her new room.****

He grunted slightly, huffing, "Good grief, Lati, ease up on the sweets!"****

A soft snore was the only response he heard, causing him to sigh in disappointment before taking her into a guest room, the walls and decorations warm, earthy colors. Shaking her slightly, he tried to push her up onto the bed, watching in satisfaction as she pulled herself forward in her sleep, trying to get comfortable. He nudged a pillow to her, laughing quietly as she pulled it to herself, hugging it to her chest and mumbled "Moon..."****

Moonstone blushed, before shaking his head, laughing nervously as he tried to play it off as an unconscious form of thanks, and not something of a more... romantic nature.****

"Brother..." Dice sighed as Moonstone turned to leave.****

Moon almost melted in relief when he heard that, murmuring to himself, "Well, at least I don't have to worry about her trying to come on to me..."****

Filled with a new surge of energy, he padded outside, closed the door and walked down the stairs, heading outside to see if he couldn't learn an attack or two while trying to come up with a plan of attack on the facilities where he had been held captive.****

The room was silent but for the snoring of Dice as she slept blissfully. The door slowly opened...**  
**

.o.O.o. End Chapter 3 .o.O.o.


	4. Chapter 4

**A New World**

**By**

**WYLD STALLYNZ**

Blade stepped into the sunlight, beer in hand and a small smile in his face. "At last! I will learn how to harness the powers of this body and use them to destroy my opponents!"

He was followed outside by a slightly less animated Wave and Cassie, who were wondering just how they would learn their powers.

They immediately noticed Sage passed out just beyond the door. The spiff was completely gone.

Wave carefully approached Sage and nudged him. "Hey... uh, dude, are you alive?"

Sage rolled onto his back, arms falling limply to his sides. "That is some powerful stuff you have growing on your hair, duddette..." he coughed. "Slooooow... slooooooow..." he giggled. "Three little Spearows fly around my heaaaaad~!" he sang to himself.

Wave slowly stepped away from him and glanced nervously at the flowers on her body. "Are these really toxic?"

Blade snorted. "I doubt it. That guy could get high by breathing clean air."

Wave nodded, still uncertain. "Then why did I knock you unconscious earlier?"

Blade rolled his eyes. "That's just a Grass-type attack. Don't worry about it. Now, let's train so that I can be the first to learn a cool Pokemon attack!"

"But... Moonstone already discovered an attack, remember? He froze the ground," Cassie pointed out, raising an equine eyebrow.

"W-well, then, I'll be the second-"

"And for all we know, Dice could be telling the truth about her attack; we've seen her charge it up a couple of times." Cassie interrupted.

"Th-that's because they are getting all the attention!" Blade snapped. "Fine! I'll be third!"

"Uh... if I knocked you out with Sleep Powder-" Wave started to say, only to be interrupted.

"I'll be THIRD!" Blade snapped. "Okay?" he took a long drink of beer. "And even if I'm FIFTH, I won't care as long as I learn something before that guy!" he shouted, pointing at the Axew, who was giggling at the ghostly Ponyta.

Cassie shrugged, looking at the giggling Sage with mild amusement. "Well, I doubt that'll be a problem; this guy is completely incapable of mov-"

She stopped as Sage burped and the air seemed to shimmer and darken. Slowly she looked up and with a startled whiny, she jumped back into the house, somehow grabbing Wave on the way.

"What?" Blade blinked, looking up as the sunlight dimmed.

.o.O.o.

Moonstone stifled a yawn as he headed outside, preparing himself to get ready to learn how to fight, or at least how to defend himself better. What he was _not_ prepared for was seeing the condition of his backyard. "What the? What's going on here?" Moon shouted, his eyes going wide as he saw several craters scattered around the backyard.

"Duuude!" Sage called from the side, still sprawled on the grass. "The sky is falling..."

"What?" Panicking, his head jerked around, looking to the sky, but saw nothing but blue skies. "But..." Confused, he turned to Sage, interrogating the Axew heatedly, "What do you mean that the sky is falling? Tell me what destroyed my backyard!"

"Duude... it was like... the sky went dark... and like... meteors rained down on Blade after he made the gods angry..." Sage whispered in awe. "I saw it all, Bro... it was... it was amaaaazing..."

Moon blinked, deadpanning as he asked, "Blade offended the gods? What could he have possibly done or said to do _that_? And _meteors?"_ he finished incredulously.

"Dude... the gods are _everywhere_..." Sage nodded, still staring at the sky. "They rained their anger on Blade like breadcrumbs fall onto the ocean from Rayquaza's morning lunch... but they all landed on him..."

Moon blinked, then asked, "But... How does that... Wait, why do they need to eat anything? They're gods!"

Luna padded outside, strangely happy as she walked over to Moon, asking, "So what's going on, Xell? Did I miss anything?"

"Moonsong? I, uh, don't think so. I can't get a straight answer from this guy," Moon grunted.

"No dude... the Moon does not sing to you or me... it sings only to the chosen ones..." Sage sighed. "It's there for us to see but not touch..."

"Oh, what would you know about the moon?" Luna snorted, rolling eyes at the Axew. "Talking from experience, she'll talk to whoever is willing to talk to her!"

"I know, dudette... I know... you must be one of the lucky ones... the rest of us... we are just inkblots in the great white page of the universe... yeah..." Sage's eyelids lowered half way as he started giggling again.

Luna and Moon looked at each other for a moment, before facepawing.

"Is it safe now?" Wave asked from the doorway, looking out.

"Define 'safe'," Moon answered wryly, rolling his eyes at the drugged Axew. "I'm not sure if he's ever technically 'safe', but if there was something falling from the sky, it looks like it's done for now. You can come out now, and tell me what _really_ happened, if you would."

Cassie carefully stepped out, followed by Wave, who did her best to walk in a straight line and stare at the sky at the same time.

"We don't know... exactly..." Cassie said. "Uh... that dude there... he started burping and then one of his burps shot up into the sky... next thing we know there's meteors landing on Blade."

"We were just talking about who needed to learn new powers and... Blade was angry that he hadn't learned anything new and..." Wave sniffed. "And now he's dead!"

"He's _what?_" Luna and Moon both exclaimed, looking at each other in shock. "But... We can't have a dead Pokemon here! I don't even know what kind of rites they get, if he wanted to be buried, or cremated, or... Anything!" Moon panicked, looking around for ideas.

Cassie looked at the swirly-eyed, drooling Cyndaquil, then back at Wave. "I think he's alive..."

Moon slumped in relief as Wave's eyes became watery. "It's a miracle! Thank Ho-Oh!"

"Do you see what I have to deal with?" Cassie asked Moon.

"Yeah... Though is this really that much worse than working at a bar? I always heard such crazy stories about what can happen in bars. Are the stories true?"

Cassie sighed. "Yes... they are, and yes, it's worse because when I deal with drunkards I can go home and not deal with them anymore. I'm stuck with all of you as it is... no offense... but I haven't seen anyone that isn't crazy so far."

"Great," Moon replied, monotoned. "Well, now that I know that I, along with the rest of my family, are crazy, maybe we can get help! You wouldn't happen to know anyone, would you, Cassie?"

"No... I can pretty much say I'm in the same boat due to circumstance..." the Ponyta deadpanned. "Can we get started? Maybe we can return to normal soon if we are able to find out what they did to us."

Blade groaned. "Wha- what happened?" he shook his head, and looked down, finding a fist-sized stone next to his now-empty bottle of beer. "No! My beer!" he raised his paws to the sky. "My beeeeeer!"

"I think you have another problem other than that..." Cassie said, trotting up to him.

Blade blinked. "I do?"

"That... dude... he discovered his special attack before you did." Cassie said. "And we should really find out his name; we can't keep on calling him 'dude'."

"He... he beat me? The stoner learned a Pokemon attack before I did?" He fell on his rump. "But... that's... that's not fair!" he whimpered.

"There there, it's okay," Moon replied soothingly, placing a paw on the smaller Pokemon's shoulder. "Besides, just because he learned a move first doesn't make him stronger or better than you! Besides, you could always evolve before he does," he finished nonchalantly.

Blade looked up at Moon with watery eyes that quickly dried as he stood with conviction. "Yes! I will prove that I am the strongest!" he coughed. "But... how do I do that?

"I think you have to train for a while," Cassie said. "The stronger you get the more likely you are to evolve... although..." she looked at Moon. "What do you think would happen to us if we evolved?"

Moon opened his mouth, his paw raised as he got ready to lecture, before he paused, a flicker of befuddlement crossing his face. "Well that... I uh... Hmm..." he stopped, frowning, his eyebrows furrowed in thought. "That's a really good question, honestly. I have no idea what would happen. Would the Pokemon genes increase? Would it ensure that the change is irreversible? Would it change our personality at all, making us more animalistic?"

"Hey, I take offense to that!" Luna interrupted heatedly, huffing. "You make it sound like that's a _bad_ thing!"

"Well, it's... uh, hard to explain, you know?" Moon quickly backpedaled, trying to appease the Umbreon that was his friend for years. "I mean..." he sighed, then gave up. "Fine, I guess I made it sound like a bad thing, happy? I just don't know what effects it would have on us, or if it would eventually make us go insane having two different types of personalities, one that's still human, and another that's Pokemon. I mean, do you know how hard it is to both hate _and_ enjoy getting your ears scratched? I mean, on one hand, err, paw, it feels good, but on the other, it... you know?"

"... Not really," Luna replied, clearly not understanding or empathetic to Moon's plight. "If it feels good, and it doesn't break a law or something, then why not do it? Is it against the law to have your ears scratched?"

"So... you're saying that if we evolve..." Wave gulped. "We might end up like... Dice?" Both she, and Cassie looked in horror at Moonstone, begging him with their eyes to tell them it wasn't so.

Moon's jaw dropped, his eyes widening as his left eyelid twitched involuntarily. "_NO!_ Anything but that! No, that... I can't tell you how I know, but let's just say that Dice is a... Special case," he hesitated, trying to think carefully of the words he used. "She uh... She's just taking this harder than some of us, and her... Eccentricities, I suppose, are her way of handling the stress. I mean, she isn't _that_ bad with single people, so maybe she has a problem with crowds? A-anyways, we should stop talking about this, really. Without a way to test anything, we're only randomly guessing, and that's just going to make us freak out more than some of us already have. Let's just focus on the task at, uh, paw, and prepare ourselves to get some info! Are you with me?"

"Oh..." Cassie sighed in relief as Wave slumped down, the adrenaline and fear leaving her body. "I had thought that her mind had been warped by the transformation..." the Ponyta chuckled weakly. "But... anyway... let's uh... let's learn some more attacks, okay? Um... Luna, since you have the most experience, how can we learn to use our powers?"

"Oh crap..." Luna sighed to herself, facepawing. "Umm... Wow, I've never had to try to explain this before!" she exclaimed, feeling split between feeling nervous and excited. "Well, first of all, at least, when I learned new moves, it was because I was either under a _lot_ of stress, or I had time to think and reflect on what I should be able to do, and watched others use attacks. Like, as an Eevee, I learned how to use Shadow Ball because I saw an Umbreon using it, and I tried to imitate it, doing it over and over again. I'm not sure if I would have learned it if he hadn't taught me himself, but... Anyways, I failed a lot learning it, and it's not like you'll have a perfect move the first time you try! You have to perfect it, learn the technique behind it, how to refine an-"

"So... what you're saying is that we have to watch someone using their powers and imitate them... right?" Blade interrupted. "Like a normal fighting technique." He nodded. "Well then... show us the Shadow Ball... slowly, and then we'll see if we can do something if we try it..."

Luna tried not to get upset as she was interrupted, and answered, "Well, I wouldn't know what you humans consider 'normal' fighting technique, but yeah, I guess whatever helps. I guess I can do it. It's simple. You just concentrate on your power, focus it in your mouth, letting it flow, then you shoot it! Like this!"

Blade and the others observed as a ball made of dark energy shot out of the Umbreon's mouth, hurdling past the giggling Axew only to impact heavily on a nearby rock in an explosion of darkness that split the boulder in half.

"See?" Luna said casually, turning to face everyone else again. "I tried to slow it down and make it as weak as possible so that you could follow it better. Did you all get a good look?"

Blade nodded, a confident smirk in his face, while Wave and Cassie exchanged looks.

"Uh... sure..." Cassie coughed. "Let's see... I'll probably shoot out fire if this works, so be careful!"

She took a deep breath while Blade chuckled.

"There's no way she'll do it on the first try... I bet I can set things on fire before she can!" he said to Wave with a glint to his eye. The Whimsicot took a step away from the Cyndaquil, eyeing him warily.

Meanwhile, Cassie had started concentrating, looking for the inner power that she had to focus in her mouth. It was surprisingly easy to find the energy. Perhaps because she had never felt anything like that before... She concentrated even more, feeling the energy gather and follow her command. She snapped her eyes open and willed the energy to shoot out... and then panicked when she realized that her fire ball... her... black, swirly, very shadow-ball like fire... ball... was flying straight for the Axew!

The ball of dark energy fluttered out of her mouth and wiggled up and down in front of the stupefied Pokemon as it slowly and inevitably made its way to the giggling Sage. With a final pirouette it landed delicately on the Axew's belly.

And exploded with a miniature puff that sent the stoned Pokemon into a harder giggling fit.

Blade's jaw was hanging in place as he stared at Cassie. "Buh- buh..."

Moon looked to Luna, stifling a few giggles behind a paw, before he started to roll on the snow, laughing his head off. "That was _epic_!" he exclaimed, his face turning violet. "That was the funniest thing I've ever seen! It was like the attack was a little dancing bee that exploded on Dude's face! That has to be one of the greatest first attempts of an attack I've seen since Luna tried to learn Confuse Ray!"

"W-what?" Luna exclaimed, her face fur darkening as she blushed madly. "X-Xell, you promised not to tell anyone about that!"

"Huh? No I didn't!" he protested, a puzzled look on his face. "When did I _ever_ promise that?"

"Right after I came to my senses, I asked you never to speak a word about that to anyone, and you said sure!"

"What? I thought you were asking to take a break!" Moon protested, jerking back a little in shock. "You sounded kinda weak, so I just assumed that you needed to take a break! How the heck was _I_ supposed to know th-"

"It's common sense!" Luna screamed, her fur only partially hiding how red her face was. "I've never told _my_ friends or Solaire about all of the experiments that you failed spectacularly on! How many people have you told?"

"Erm..." Moon became eerily quiet, looking away as he awkwardly shuffled his paws. "Maybe a couple?"

Wave giggled. "It's not so bad, Luna, he didn't know..."

"Yeah... you know, dudette, if life was as clear as we wanted it to be and everything we said was always understood... where would we be now?" Sage asked.

"... probably in a better place?" Cassie asked, looking at the Axew. "If lack of communication didn't cause so many problems then-"

"But that's the thing, bro..." Sage whispered, "if we understood everything immediately... there would be no discovery!"

The Ponyta slowly pushed him away. "Discovery. Right, like what?"

"Like, you know... how did a Fire-type Pokemon fire a Ghost-type move?" Sage asked. "It's the mysteries that drive us to better ourselves, dudette!" he paused. "Dudette?"

Cassie was slowly stepping back. "But... I... was that really a Shadow Ball?" she looked wildly around. "Am I a ghost type? Am I dead?"

Moon and Luna turned to Cassie, quirking an eyebrow both, their disagreement forgotten for the moment. "Huh, you know, that's a good question," Moon said, his voice thoughtful. "But really, there's only one way to test that, and I don't exactly want to do it, you know? But that _would_ explain why you're kinda purple instead of orange."

"Whooaaa..." Sage whispered in awe. "It's like... we've been speaking with the dead! That's- that's deep man, real deep..."

Wave looked from the Axew to the Ponyta, and back to the Axew. "Um...Dude... I don't think that's helping..."

Cassie for her part was starting to freak out. Her fiery mane grew as she took several steps back. "But... but I can't be dead! I was alive just last night!"

"It's like, in that movie... you know?" Sage said. "About the Pokemon psychologist that doesn't know he's dead and is trying to help this Pikachu that sees dead Pokemon?"

Cassie started twitching.

"Duude... it's like... we're talking to a spirit, bro! There _is_ life after death!"

Moon and Luna looked at each other again, before Moon sighed, "Moonsong, make him shut the hell up, will ya?"

"My pleasure," Luna grunted, firing a Shadow Ball at the Axew in less than a second. As it hit the small, grey Pokemon, it exploded, sending him flying through the air before he landed in a particularly large drift of snow.

"Thanks. Now, Cass," Moon soothed, turning to the Ponyta that was threatening to go completely mental, "I need you to just calm down for a second, alright? We have no idea if you're a Ghost type, if you're dead, or any of that! Just take a deep breath, and we'll try to analyze this step by step. Now, first of all, are you tired or hungry at all?"

"I... no, not hungry..." Cassie admitted. "But I just ate."

"_Aha!"_ Moon exclaimed, stomping his paw heavily on the ground. "You just ate! There ya go then! Even _if_ you were a ghost-type Pokemon, you're not dead! I mean, what kind of dead Pokemon needs to eat in order to live?"

"But..." Cassie's eyes became watery. "I- I just ate because everyone else was eating! I wasn't hungry at aaaaalll!"

"W-well, that doesn't prove anything yet," Moon added hastily, back-pedaling as he readied another line of attack. "That was just the first question! For all you know, you _were_ hungry, but just didn't notice. Now, let's see, what else can we do to prove you aren't dead, besides try to kill you..." he mused, putting his paw to his chin.

Cassie's eyes went wide. "But... that's... no! You know what, I'll just go back in and wait in a corner until you finish finding out without me!" Turning around, she put her head down, closed her eyes and galloped straight into the wall.

And through it.

Moon and Luna gaped, before Moon stuttered, "W-well, at least we know she's a ghost Pokemon... Now, how do we prove she's alive? I mean, she seems to be freaking out about it fairly badly." After a moment of contemplation, he added, "Well, at least if she's freaking out about if she's alive or not, she's not freaking out about being a Pokemon?"

A loud 'THUNK' sound made all present Pokemon turn around to face Blade, who was staggering away from a tree-trunk, holding his head. "Ow... ow ow... I guess I'm not a Ghost-type too..."

Moon and Luna had to stifle giggles behind their paws, before Moon commented, "I uh, guess not. Bummer. So, why don't you try to do something else? Or perhaps you'd like for me to try to-"

"No! Don't try to kill me!" Blade said hastily, then coughed into his paw, suddenly looking dead serious. "I'll train on my own; I will develop my skills and be ready for tonight." He turned around, facing the forest and took a few steps into it before looking over his shoulder with a grin. "I am, after all, a fighter!"

"Duuude..." came the hollow voice of Sage from the little cavern of snow he had been propelled to. "That was _almost_ badass!"

Blade growled and turned around, trotting into the forest, muttering to himself.

Wave looked around before settling her eyes on Luna and Moon. "Well... I already know how to use Sleeping Powder so... are we done then?"

"... That's only one move, Wave," Moon noted, quirking an eyebrow. "How about learning an _attack_ attack? You know, something that can knock other Pokemon out without knocking some of us out as well?"

"I... I don't believe in violence..." Wave said.

"Well... This should be interesting then," Luna muttered, before Moon jabbed her gently.

"Hey, don't be mean, okay? There's nothing wrong in not wanting to fight! She can be our uh... Supporter! Yeah! She'll just need to try to learn more moves like Sleep Powder, so that would be... What, Stun Spore, maybe Sunny Day or Synthesis?"

Luna blinked, before sighing, "Xell, don't look at me like that! I'm a Dark type! Like I know anything about Grass type moves!"

At that moment, a shiny Flareon jumped over the bushes.

.o.O.o.

"Oh, dear, oh dear..." Solaire panted as he pranced as quickly as he could through the forest. "This is not good... no, not good... oh, Great Arceus, not good!" he carefully dodged around a large puddle. "No, I should just run through the next one! Tear needs me!" he declared as he continued to his destination.

He could just make the house and...

A grunt made him stop, fearful of being caught. But it just turned out to be a gruff Cyndaquil hitting a tree trunk with its paws for some reason. Stepping past the uncouth creature, and making sure he hadn't been spotted, Solaire immediately started prancing as fast as he could again.

"At last!" he shouted in glee as he jumped beautifully over a shrubbery. "I am here! Luna! Sister, I need your help!"

He stopped as he noticed that Luna was not alone. An Espeon who had obviously dyed its coat stood next to her, (he could tell it was fake! It had to be!) along with what looked like a shiny Whimsicot. All three Pokemon looked at him in surprise.

"I..." Solaire coughed. "I-"

"Hey guys!" a feminine voice called as the back door into the Scifo's family mansion opened. Solaire stared in shock as the relatively familiar figure of a Legendary Pokemon, a Latias no less, floated out of the house. "Can you keep it down? I couldn't really sleep and-"

"BY ARCEUS!" Solaire shouted in horror, pointing a paw at the Latias's face, which was scribbled over with hideous black lines. Little dark circles and spirals were drawn on the female Pokemon's cheeks, and a black tear had been drawn under her left eye. It had a partner on the right side, but it had been smeared over and was simply nothing more than a dark patch on the white feathers of the Latias' face.

"He's a concept, dude..." a voice, harsh and slow emanated from somewhere. "There's no Arceus my friend... it's all in your head..."

Solaire stammered. "What... Luna! Why are you socializing with... with... these... I have no words!"

"Solaire?" Luna exclaimed, shocked. "What are... But why are you here? Where's Tear? You guys _always_ call ahead!"

"Wow, it's kinda weird being able to hear him now," Moon commented. "I mean, he sounded rather tough before, but now he just sounds... Prissy."

"Why-" Solaire sputtered. "If I didn't have pressing matters to attend to, I would show you proper manners, you uncouth social climber!" the Flareon sniffed. "But right now, I have grave news... Tia... she's been kidnapped!"

"_What?" _Moon and Luna exclaimed, their eyes widening. "Tear got kidnapped?" Moon asked, rushing over to the shiny Flareon. "When did this happen? And where?"

Luna rushed over to the Flareon as he slumped down. "It was just after I won the last beauty contest... we were walking out and Tia decided that she wanted to take a look around the city before heading home," he said miserably. "As you can imagine, I wasn't so keen on the idea, and I told her, but she insisted and..."

"Oh shit... Please, _please_ tell me she didn't get gassed as well," Moon groaned, facepawing. "Please tell me she didn't just pass out before getting kidnapped, Sol. I could really, _really_ use some good news right about now..."

"... alas, she was..." Solaire sighed, then he narrowed his eyes and glared at Moon. "Wait... what did you call me? How dare you? Riff-raff like yourself cannot call me Sol! Apologize at once, knave, or I _will_ punish you in the name of decorum!"

"_You_ will punish Moony?" Dice asked venomously, pressing her scrawled-over snout against Solaire's. "Who do _you_ think you are, you uptight little fire-farter?"

"_Hey!_ Only I'm allowed to insult my little bro!" Luna snapped, her eyes glowing in rage. "You take that back right this second, or I'll beat the feathers off your stupid face and do you a favor!" Spinning to face Solaire, she continued, "And _you!_ If you threaten Moonstone, brother or not, I will kick your sorry pampered butt back to that stupid contest, got it?"

Dice growled. "Let me get this clear right now, Luna; you do _not_ intimidate me!" she glowered. "Your Arceus-damned powers do! But you don't, so don't think you can just glower me into submission, understood?" She then turned to Solaire. "$%&# you."

Solaire stared at Dice in horror. "Wha- what does that even _mean?_"

Dice shrugged. "I have no idea. But it sounded awful, didn't it?"

Solaire looked at his sister. Then something clicked. "Wait... did you say... Moonstone? That's not Moonstone! It's an Espeon! With dyed fur!"

"Duude... we all are entities trapped in the wrong bodies..." Sage's voice reached them. "We are whispers in the wind, bro... we are not what we seem, only what we believe we are, and in that essence we are free..."

Solaire blinked. "A- anyway... you cannot be Moonstone! I refuse to believe it!"

"Belief is a state of mind, Bro... it reflects what we wish and wish not to be reality..." Sage's voice faded as Dice pushed snow into the small hole where the voice emanated from.

"Gah! _Shut up!"_ Moon screeched, glaring at everyone. "I have _had_ it with all of this chaos! You _will_ be quiet so we can handle this one item at a time! First of all, if I hear one more person trying to threaten another while at _my_ house, I swear to Arceus I will get your ass kicked out of here faster than a bug Pokemon evolves! This is _my_ house, and I will _not_ tolerate fighting! Second: Solaire, I'm Moonstone, and I got turned into a Pokemon because of this weird gas from a night or two ago. I don't _care_ if you can understand or not, but if you threaten me again, I'll make sure that Tear finds out about it, and I'm sure that she can make a punishment for you much worse than I can!"

"But Xell, I was ju-"

"No! No 'buts', Luna!" Moon cut her off, looking at her. "If I want you to fight or intimidate someone, I will tell you to do so, alright?" Luna nodded sullenly, looking away as she tried to hide her hurt. "The same goes for you too, Lati! Luna is my sister too, and I will _not _listen to you two fight!"

"Bro..." Dice said softly, "Luna and I were just trying to defend you from this guy..."

"This 'guy' has a name, thank you very much!" Solaire interrupted, but wilted at the glare still present in Moon's eyes. "But... I suppose I can refrain my disdain for you lot..." he sighed. "Luna... I- we need to rescue Tia... there's no time to waste!"

"Before you freak out on us again, Sol, how about telling us what happened? Why does she need rescuing? Why couldn't you protect her? You sure didn't have a problem with defending her when you were a kit!" Moon exclaimed.

"I-" Solaire looked down. "I didn't know what to do... and then this human girl ran up to us and told me to get help... to run to get Nurse Joy... so... I- I ran and when I came back... they were both gone. I-I didn't know what else to do!"

"And how long ago was this, Bro?" Luna asked, trying to comfort her twin brother.

"I... think it was about 5 hours ago..." Solaire said. "Of course I stayed for a bit to look for her, but I was unable to find her! That's when I rushed here as fast as I could!"

Dice looked at Moonstone. "If it was five hours ago... Moon, that means that your friend could already be..."

"Crap," Moonstone sighed, shaking his head. "Great, just what we needed," he said sarcastically. "Now we have to not only break back into those facilities for the transformation data, but now we _also_ have to see if we can find Tear in that place as well, and we have no idea if she got turned into a Pokemon, and if she did, what type. Oh, this is going to be _fun_..."

"Yes, yes it is," Dice said. "But that doesn't mean that we shouldn't take it seriously," she added, her serious face marred by scribbles. "However, what it _does_ mean is that we probably have to cut the wait short... and go sooner rather than later. We don't know how long it takes for them to change a human into a Pokemon... there might still be time to save her!"

"Pokemon?" Solaire gasped, raising a paw to his chest. "What do you mean? Is she going to be okay?"

"Well, that's part of what we're going back there to find out," Moon commented, rolling his neck. "We're going to find out how they transformed us, what the possible side-effects are, how to reverse it, you know."

"Xell, stay on track!" Luna chided, hitting Moon on the head. "We have to go rescue Tear!"

"Alright, alright!" Moon protested, holding his head in a paw. "I'll go see if Dad can't drive us into town or something! Maybe he can serve as a distraction or something."

Dice nodded. "He'll have to be careful though; we don't know if they'll try to turn him into a Pokemon!" she thought for a moment. "I assume we would be going in through the back?"

"Naturally, since it was unguarded last time, it's worth the chance to see if it's unguarded again," Moon answered. "Besides, it's unlikely that there would be more people guarding the back than the front! Anyways, we'll just bust in there, start kicking butt and find out wh-"

"Umm, excuse me, but do we _have_ to kick butt? I don't believe in fighting," Wave interrupted. "Isn't there something else we could do that doesn't involve violence, like getting the police or something?"

"And how do we explain to the police that there was a bunch of humans like yourself and Moon turned into Pokemon in time for them to act fast enough to stop them from transforming more people, or even escaping?" Dice asked. "Sorry, Wave, it seems that we'll have to fight..." she stopped for a moment and tapped her chin. "Or... maybe not... given how incompetent they are, they might just be guarding the front door."

"I don't know... I don't really-"

"Well, what if you joined my father then?" Moon suggested, turning thoughtful once more. "I mean, you could always help him with a distraction, worst case scenario. And if there's a bunch of guards there, you could always try to use Sleep Powder again."

"W-well... I guess that doesn't hurt anyone, and that would still help, wouldn't it... O-okay, I'll help with the distraction, I guess."

"Alright then! Does anyone else want to help with the distraction, or are we all going on the offensive?" Moon asked, looking around.

"I... I have find out what happened to Tia," Solaire said. "I'll go with you."

"Me too!" Dice smiled. "I wouldn't miss this for a cupcake made by Mewtwo himself! … Well... okay, by Zapdos..."

A muffled sound came from within the snow.

"I think Dude says he's coming too," Dice said after a moment. "I'm pretty sure Blade will go... and someone should ask Cassie..."

"Yeah, we really need to get her on-board as well, especially if she's dead! We don't have to worry about her dying that way," Moon commented. "Luna, would you mind trying to talk her into... Luna? Where'd she go?" Looking around, he saw that she was already heading inside.

"Wait... Cassie is dead?" Dice gasped. "Dude, I knew you said training would be hard but... seriously? What did you do to her?"

"Hmm? Oh, you know, the usual. Made her run until she was out of breath, then we stabbed and whipped her repeatedly until she got back up and ran again. We kept that cycle going until she just didn't get up anymore," Moon answered, rolling his eyes.

"H-how dreadful!" Solaire gasped. "That's completely barbaric! How could you? I demand to see your certificate as a trainer of Pokemon! This will not stand!"

"So you didn't dunk her into the frozen lake after she ran out of breath?" Dice asked. "Shame on you, Moony! You should know better!"

"Gah! Knew I was forgetting something," Moon replied, swiping at the snow with his paw. "Sorry Lati, I'll try to keep that in mind next time..." Turning to Solaire, he shrugged, answering nonchalantly, "Oh, that little thing? Who needs them? I mean, really, how hard is it to order Pokemon around?"

When it became clear that Solaire was taking everything seriously, he continued, "Geez, I was just joking! Seriously, Sole, didn't Tear ever teach you about jokes? Man, and I thought that Luna was a bit serious! You need to learn how to loosen up!"

"Hey, Moony!" Dice called, fishing out a half-frozen Sage from the snow. "I found your other trainee! Where should I bury him next?"

Solaire fainted.

Dice floated up to Moonstone and looked down at the unconscious Flareon. "Uh, was it something I said?"

Moon snickered, before shaking his head. "Nah, not at all, Lati. Besides, he deserved it. Man, I never would have guessed that Sol was such a..." he paused, his paw wavering as he tried to think of the right word. "Not a sissy, not a pansy, but..."

"A prick?" Dice offered.

"Yeah, pretty much. I mean, he could be worse, but he always seemed like he was more masculine and tough than that," Moon commented, frowning slightly.

"It's always the quiet ones..." Dice sighed. "You wouldn't know it, but when I was really young I was so quiet people would forget I existed... and now..." she narrowed her eyes. "I won't _let them forget!_" she started chuckling to herself. After a moment, she took a breath. "But... where's Luna?"

Moon smirked, shaking his head as he chided, "Silly Lati, weren't you paying attention? Little Luna went to go see what Cassie was going to do, if she was going to fight or not."

"Well, yeah, but she left rather abruptly so I wasn't sure," she said, hefting up Sage. She looked down at the Flareon laying on the snow. "So... are we leaving him here for now, or should I pick him up on my way to clean my face?"

"Meh, leave him in the snow. I'm sure his royal highness could use some time to cool off a bit," Luna answered as she came back from the house, rolling her eyes. "I love him like a brother, bu-

"Hey, Luna!" Dice interrupted as she headed in for the house. "I need to know something..."

"You need to know a _lot_ of things," Luna smirked, hoping to get back for being interrupted.

"Well, yeah! I do," Dice said nodding. "You are right, of course. I'll be sure to ask the adequate authority when I need to find out... in the meantime, did you use water-soluble markers?"

"Well, I think I used... Wait, what?" Luna asked, doing a double-take.

Dice grinned. "Oh, I thought it was you, but I didn't think you'd fall for it!" she chuckled malevolently. "I will, of course, retaliate at some point..." her grin slowly expanded. "But... for now... I think I should go wash my face... and you can explain to Moony why you painted my face... sis."

Still chuckling, Dice flew into the house, leaving Moon and Luna alone with the unconscious Solaire.

Turning, Moon looked sternly at Luna, who avoided his gaze. "Moonsong, you look at me and answer the question honestly. Did you draw on Lati's face, and why?"

"W-well... Yeah," she said meekly, her ears falling flat against her head. "I just... She just drives me crazy!" she exploded, her face twisting in rage. "She blatantly insults you, and mocks you, an-"

Moonstone put his paw on her mouth, silencing her, before jerking his head sharply. "Come on, let's walk."

Luna followed Moon dejectedly as he led her through the snow, walking at a leisurely pace. After a minute, Moon turned around, sitting in the snow as he looked at his Umbreon, before starting to laugh. "Luna, that was awesome! I couldn't have gotten her better if I had planned it!"

"W-what?" Luna replied, shocked. "Y-you're not mad that I-"

"Are you kidding? She's been trolling me ever since we woke up together! I've been looking for a way to get back at her! Besides, what you did was a good, clean, harmless prank, not something that could hurt her verbally. As long as you promise not to do anything that would actually _hurt_ her, then heck, you can count me in on the pranks, alright?"

"R-really?" Luna asked, her eyes going wide. "I-I was under the impression that you and she were... Umm, you know, kinda-"

It was then that Blade emerged from the trees and looked around, noticing the pair. "Hey Moon! I heard a commotion! Did your girlfriend finally wake up?"

"Blade!" Moon protested, spinning on the purple-tinged Cyndaquil. "She's not my girlfriend, okay? And don't you _dare_ give her that idea! She'll troll me so hard I'll never be able to sleep! Now," he continued, turning back around to face Luna, "as I was saying... Luna? Luna?"

Looking around rapidly, he turned back and forth, but she was nowhere to be found. "Where'd she go?"

.o.O.o.

Dice dunked her head in water and shook it. The black stains faded away as the protective oils that permeated her feathers and made them water-proof also rejected the ink. Sighing, she looked at herself in the mirror.

The hot water had made condensation on the surface of the mirror, preventing her from being able to actually see her new face. Slowly and deliberately, Dice's claw traced a small circle where one of her eyes was reflected, then another for the other eye. Then she slowly drew an upside 'u', drawing a 'sad smiley'. She looked at her amber eyes through the little clean areas for a short time before using a towel to quickly wipe the mirror and dry her face.

When she stepped out, she found Mr. Scifo waiting for her. "Well, Dice, if you really want to go along with this... I have the paperwork set up. You'll need to sign up with your own trainer number and personal code, but that's about it."

Dice nodded and looked at Mr. Scifo for a moment, then nodded more slowly.

Mr. Scifo smiled. "I already talked it over with my wife, Gracia... she was a bit confused, but she's looking forward to getting to know you better."

Dice smiled and followed Mr. Scifo to his computer room, where the documents waited.

.o.O.o.

Luna ran towards the house, her vision wavering slightly as she tried to collect her thoughts. As she approached, however, she realized that if she went inside, she'd have to face the others, and she didn't want to face anyone yet. She just couldn't.

Of course, it was at this time that Solaire woke up, groaning pitifully, "By Arceus, how did I get here?" He looked around, and slowly stood up shaking away the snow. "Was I drinking again with Marcelle and Pierre?" It was when his sister ran past him in tears that he remembered everything. "Oh, no! Tia!" He shook his head as he refocused on his sobbing twin. "Luna? What happened to you?"

"S-Solaire?" Luna exclaimed, shocked, pawing at her eyes quickly, trying to regain her composure. "W-what do you mean? Nothing happened _to_ me. I-I'm _fine_."

"But... you're crying!"

"S-so? W-why wouldn't I be fine? What, I can't cry _and_ be fine? Everything's great, okay? Just peachy," she chocked, pivoting her head away sharply.

"Luna..." Solaire sighed, making his way up to her and nuzzling her neck. "Come on, sister... I despise seeing you like this; you very well know that while we might act very different, especially when it comes to decorum, and while we might disagree on just about anything, especially good taste, I _can tell _when my twin sister is sad."

"I... I don't even know what exactly's wrong, though!" Luna protested, giving in as she leaned against her brother's coat, burying her face in his mane.

"It's okay dear," he said. "Sol is here for you... it probably doesn't help that you are surrounded by such a group of knaves."

"D-don't call Xell a knave," Luna corrected automatically, her voice muffled from the fur.

Solaire was quiet for a moment. "It's true, then? Was he really transformed into a Pokemon?"

"Y-yeah," she sniffed, trying to compose herself for her brother's sake. "We don't know how, exactly, but it's true. I was teaching them how to fight so that we could go to the place where it happened when you showed up."

Taking a deep breath, Luna managed to stop crying, her eyes still red, but no longer leaking. After a second, she asked quietly, "What about you, Sol? How are you holding up with Tia... Y-you know, being kidnapped... What happens if she got transformed too? What will you do?"

Solaire narrowed his eyes. "I will pretend that I did not notice your attempt to change the subject, if only because we _will_ talk about this." He sighed. "I am worried... very worried. I don't want Tia to be transformed into a Pokemon... I- I don't know how she would take it..."

"Yeah... I don't know how she'd handle it either," Luna admitted. "I'm not sure if Xell is really freaking out on the inside, and is just trying to hide it, or if he's just interested in figuring out how it happened, and all of that stuff. Tia, I... We'll try to save her in time, okay? I promise," Luna vowed softly, trying to cheer her brother up.

Solaire nodded, his eyes betraying his worry, but there was a hint of relief. "I know I can count on you, sister..."

Luna's ear twitched as she heard faint yelling. "Luna? Where'd you run off to? Are you alright?"

"Y-yeah, I'm fine," she lied, shouting back to Moon. "I'm just... Talking to Sol, that's all! You know, catching up, trying to get moving, you know. Heh heh..." she forced herself to laugh a little, trying to act innocent.

Solaire gave her a dirty look, his expression telling her in no uncertain terms that he knew that Moon had something to do with her crying, but he refrained from making a comment as the Espeon, followed by the Cyndaquil he had seen earlier, came into view.

"I'll go check on the others," Blade said, giving the Flareon a strange look before disappearing into the house.

Solaire faced the Espeon rather stiffly. "Well, then... Xell. What exactly did you do to my-"

"Ohmygoodness, wouldja look at the time?" Luna exclaimed, shouting suddenly as she turned to push Moon towards the house. "We completely forgot about the um, experiment we left running in the basement!"

"We did?" Moon exclaimed, stunned. "Which one?"

"Err..." Luna paused for a moment, before blustering, "L-look, it doesn't matter! We've got to go check on it and stuff, remember? _For science_!"

"Moony!" a voice echoed from the house and suddenly, Moon was rolling on the snow with a white and purple blur on top, both ending with Moon on his back with Dice grinning like an idiot at him on top, pinning him down. "It's official!"

Luna gaped, before her face turned red, turning away in a huff, somewhat embarrassed as well. Moon, however, tried to stop his eye from twitching as he said quietly, "Lati, I'm going to give you five seconds to get off of me before I blast you in the face with an attack."

Dice's eyes became sad as her smile faded. They started watering up. "But... Moony... I just wanted to tell you..." she leaned a bit closer. "_I'm yoursss_... ister!"

Moon's pupils shrunk to the size of pinpricks until he heard all of the sentence. "Gah! Don't _do_ that to me!" he roared, his face heating up. "I've got enough hell going on, and I really, _really_ can't put with your antics right now, alright? I've been turned into a Pokemon, my best friend has been kidnapped, and may also be turned into a Pokemon if we can't find her fast enough, and _what_ are we doing? You're pinning me down just so you can get a little bit of personal satisfaction! For once, can you _please_ _grow_ _**up**_?"

Luna blinked, shocked. She couldn't remember the last time she had heard her master yell like that, and that worried her. 'I take that back,' she shakily whispered to Solaire. 'M-maybe he's not taking this as well as I thought. He hasn't yelled like that in years...'

"We're ready to go!" Dice said, grinning, "I just came to get you and share the news." She rolled off of him and levitated back, giving him room to stand. "You still have to tell your dad about your plan, since... well, you thought about it... we're just waiting for you three and we're good to go save Tear!"

Moon surged to his paws, brushing himself of brusquely, huffing, "Fine, whatever! Luna, come on! I need you to shut the lab down while I go talk to dad. Well, type, I guess," he corrected himself, grunting. "Sol, you need anything? We're leaving ASAP, so if you need to eat, you'd better do it now.'

Luna saluted and charged back to the house, a fading, echoing '_For science_' ringing in the clearing as she disappeared.

Solaire shook his head, following his sister into the house.

Dice watched Moon walk into the house, completely ignoring her. Her smile didn't fade until he was gone and she was completely alone. She looked down at the area where she had knocked down her friend and new-found brother and sighed, shaking her head. Her ears twitched and her feathers ruffled as conflicting emotions and knowledge rushed through her mind's eye. "The hell I'm doing?" she muttered, just as a smile played on the edge of her lips almost rebelliously. Soon her anger faded as slow happiness seeped into her eyes. She took a deep breath, forgetting once more that she had once been human. Who cared, anyway?

.o.O.o.

Moon followed after Luna, trotting briskly to the house, trying to burn off his excess energy as he looked for his dad. After searching several empty rooms, he finally found his dad hunched over his laptop, working on some document. Figuring he should just get straight to the point, he crouched before leaping up onto his father's chair, barely keeping his balance. "Holy crap, how does Luna manage to make that look so easy?"

"Moon?" his father looked down at the Espeon in surprise. "What's going on, son? I'm just finishing up some data and..."

Moon swiftly opened up a new document, and started typing, "We're getting ready to leave, but we needed to know a few things. First of all, if you didn't know, Solaire is here. It seems that Tear has been kidnapped, possibly by the same group that did this to us."

Mr. Scifo's eyes widened with worry. "That's really not good..." he said, looking at his son. "Do you have a plan, Moon? Knowing you as I do, I don't think you would have come up here and told me without something in mind."

"Exactly. We _were_ going to wait until night, but with her being captured, we can't afford to take time for that. If there's a process outside of the gas that knocked us out, then there's still a slim chance that we can save her before she's transformed as well. The plan is dangerous, to an extent, and it involves you," Moon typed. "We'd need you to drive us there, first of all, since we wouldn't be able to hide in Pokeballs until we got there, and secondly, we'd need you to act as a scout of sorts, and possibly create a distraction if needed, if there's lots of guards at the rear entrance."

A glint passed through Mr. Scifo's glasses as a small smile played in his face. Action! At last! "Sounds like a plan son, but are you sure you guys can handle yourselves? You've been a Pokemon for less than a day!"

"Well..." Moon hesitated, before continuing, typing slower. "Kinda... I mean, everyone else has learned _an attack_ or two, more or less, so we've got that, _and_ between Solaire and Luna, we _should_ be fine! Not only that, but you're forgetting one small detail that should help quite a bit in fights... We might be in Pokemon bodies, but we're also humans! We don't have to follow the rules of combat like we would if we were still humans ordering Pokemon around! If we're fighting grunts, they're going to be outnumbered, or we'll run away. We'll be fine. If it's something that Luna and Solaire can't handle _with_ help, then we wouldn't be able to get anywhere, so we have to at least act like we're confident enough to go, or there's no point in going in the first place..."

Mr. Scifo nodded. "Okay Moon, I think I can distract them if necessary." He typed a couple of commands into his computer and an "in development" screen appeared with a timer. "Are you all prepared? I'll go ready the car!" he said, putting down Moonstone. "Take the others to the garage. We'll leave when everyone's there."

Nodding, Moon leaped down to the floor, running off to go find everyone, starting with Luna in the basement. The time for planning was over, and now, finally, it was time for some action!

.o.O.o. End Chapter 4 .o.O.o.


	5. Chapter 5

**A New World**

**By**

**WYLD STALLYNZ**

The car slowed down as they approached the back of the warehouse where everyone had woken up. Mr. Scifo looked over his seat at the gathered Pokemon, silently thanking his wife's insistence on getting a small van for family outings.

"Okay everyone, we're here. Be careful! Wave and I will go to the front and see if we can distract them; if they are as incompetent as Dice seems to believe, we should have an easy time of it, but that doesn't mean that you should not pay attention!"

"With some luck you guys won't have to fight at all!" Wave nodded enthusiastically.

"And miss out on the violence?" Blade snorted. "No thanks. I need to vent my anger on someone!"

Cassie sighed. "I just want to return to normal..."

Dice sighed. "I just want to go swimming..."

"Duuude, I want like, a comet, you know... like, I would ride it sooooo far, it would totally be awesome beyond description..." Sage said, looking at the sky. "Yeah, that's true, Ominous, but, duuude... meteors fall and comets go on, and on..."

Wave looked at Cassie. "Who's Ominous?"

"Luna is," Dice said. "If you think about it, she glowers a lot. I think that's ominous."

The others exchanged glances, then looked back at Sage, who giggled.

"I... I think we should go... now," Solaire said after a brief moment of staring in horrified fascination at the first Pokemon he had actually known for sure was high. He had his suspicions about a couple of participants in a contest once, but...

Moon nodded, "Let's get going. We need to make this a fast operation. Luna, you'll take point; you're the most likely to notice any guards since you have the most experience."

Luna nodded, quickly and smoothly jumping out of the car as soon as the door opened. Her eyes scanned the area as her ears and nose strained to catch the faintest hint of any enemies. "It's clear, Xell!"

"Okay, everyone follow her, and listen to whatever she tells you!" Moon commanded, taking charge. "I'll follow along behind to make sure no one comes up behind us. Now, let's... Lati? Hey, where'd you go?"

Dice poked Moon on the shoulder. "Here."

Moon jumped as Dice was suddenly next to him. "What? How?"

Dice looked at him in confusion, but shrugged. "I don't know... let's get this over with, okay?" The Latias floated ahead and hovered slightly behind Luna, looking around almost morosely.

Cassie looked at Dice oddly. "Are you okay? You seem... calm."

"Bah, she won't be calm for long!" Blade growled with a toothy smile. "Not when we find some morons to beat into a pulp, right?" he elbowed Dice.

"For science!" Luna corrected, her eyes glowing in a way that sent shivers down their spines. "We'll kick their butts for science, so that we can learn what they've been doing!"

Dice shrugged. "For science then..." she looked around. "I really don't see any guards... maybe we should just head in."

The group slowly followed Luna around the buildings to the largest of the warehouses.

"I think this is the one we came out of," Cassie said, looking around. "It was darker, but I'm pretty sure this is it."

Blade took a step forward and opened the door. "Well... it's not locked. I'm starting to think Dice was right and the security here is handled by Magikarps."

Solaire blinked. "What? That's preposterous, to say the least! Have you seen Magikarps? They are completely useless! I remember this one that her Trainer had put a pink bow on and entered into a contest! It was completely ridiculous! It just stayed on the floor and flopped around!"

Everyone gave the Flareon incredulous looks, to which he nodded. "I know, right? Why would you ever enter a Magikarp into a contest? Well, the worst part was that when the judges decided that it was unfit to participate (why they took so long, I will never understand!), the trainer got so upset she started crying, and that, in turn, caused her Magikarp to suddenly evolve into a Gyarados! It was chaos, I tell you! I will never look at Unova the same way!"

"Duuude..." Sage whispered. "You have like, the _wildest _stories, man! That was like _whoa!_ And then _wooooow_..." the Axew shook his head. "It's totally off track, dude, what they meant is that the guards _believe_ they are Magikarps and-"

"No," Cassie interrupted. "We are not going to stay here and listen to this. No way, no how. Try to calm down, uh... dude... even Dice is acting serious for once, this is important! We need to save Moon's friend and find out what happened to us!"

Sage shrugged. "Chillax, dudette, chillax..."

"Well... if you two are finished, maybe we can find someone to fight now?" Blade snapped. "I really need to let loose."

Luna's ears twitched. "Quiet! I think I heard something."

The group fell silent as voices echoed in the warehouse.

"So, how many are left?" a man's voice asked.

"I don't know... I think we only have one more left in here. A small one," another voice replied.

"We seem to be moving ahead of schedule..."

"Yeah..."

"Hey... I, uh, I heard Mike say that one of the subjects had a whole stash of weed and other things with him when they captured him... they put it away in the guard room... we _are_ ahead of schedule... you think we have time to... uh, light up?"

The other voice was quiet for a moment. "A stash, you say? If they haven't taken it out they were probably planning on leaving it here... I don't think anyone will miss it if we take some."

Sage started trembling. "Duude... they're talking about _my_ stash!"

Cassie stared at him. "I would have never guessed," she deadpanned.

"We _have_ to get it back, bro! That's quality stuff right there!" the Axew said urgently.

"We're not going to go rescue your stash," Luna whispered angrily. "And keep your voice down!" She turned to look at Moon. "Moon, should we check the Pokemon in here, or see what they meant by being almost done loading them?"

"We should split up," he replied, not hesitating as he continued, "Right now, we need information, and we'll get it faster if we split up and meet back in three minutes or so. Luna, you check out the 'loading', and I'll take Dice with me to rescue the Pokemon, since the two of us already know the lock system."

"There's a problem with that plan, chief." Cassie said.

"What? And hurry, we don't have time to waste talking."

"Well... dude is gone... and so is Dice," the Ponyta pointed out.

Solaire blinked. "But... she was right next to me! I never saw her move!"

Blade smiled. "I can see... uh... dude... at least." He pointed at the Axew as it trotted after the men.

"Crap... Fine, I'll go alone to rescue the Pokemon. Luna, you and Solaire find out more about the loading. You guys decide who you want to follow and help, but whatever you do, stay quiet, and meet back in three minutes!"

"Blade and I will get 'Dude'," Cassie said, then groaned. "We really need to learn his name!" she whispered as she motioned with her head for Blade to follow her.

Blade grinned and cracked his knuckles and neck. "Yes! Meat to be pounded!"

The group dispersed.

.o.O.o.

Moon made his way quickly to the room where they had been held just a couple days prior, thinking, 'Well, it would make sense that they'd use the same cages, or perhaps the other ones that were empty, so that's a good a place to start as any.'

He nosed the door open slowly, his eyes flickering to all corners of the room, but sighed in relief when he saw no guards. He padded in on silent paws, looking around at the cages, but paused before going far. 'That's the cage I found Dice in,' he thought somberly.

He started to walk forward, before he fell flat on his rump as he ran into something. "Wha? Who's there?" he asked, panicking for a moment.

Slowly a form shimmered into view. Dice floated in front of the cage where she had woken up, the only signal that she had noticed Moon's presence was a slight inclination of the head and a quick look his way.

"L-Lati? H-how did you? N-nevermind," he replied, shaking his head. "I guess you just learned, or perhaps were instinctively using Latias' ability, to bend the light around your feathers to turn invisible... If you don't mind my asking, Lati, umm... Are you alright?" he asked gently, trying not to upset her, but still show that he was concerned as a friend.

"This is where I woke up..." Dice said. "I mean, you already know that but... so much changed... did I tell you I was pretty good at drawing? I even won a contest, once." She looked down at her claws. "I wonder if I can do that again?" Dice shook her head. "This place... it makes me... angry... and depressed. Latias are supposed to be happy," she frowned. "I don't like it here... we should go."

"U-um, Lati? Just because Latias are normally happy doesn't mean that you aren't allowed to feel any other emotions, like fear, or anger, or sorrow! I- I wish I knew what to tell you, but I don't know what you're going through, completely." Pausing to think, he turned away, starting to look through the cages again to see if there was anyone else as he asked softly, "So, you used to draw, huh? I wish I could draw, but I never had the ability... What was it you drew that won a prize?"

"Oh... it was just... a flock of Pidgeys, nothing really impressive, but apparently the composition was good..." Dice perked up a little as she fell in place next to Moon. "That's what got me started as a Pokemon Watcher." She sighed. "Good times."

"Wait, you mean you were... You know, have you ever thought about becoming a researcher? Professor Oak started out as a trainer and watcher, and look where he is today! It might be something you should think about once we get this mess figured out, whatever you decide to do... Hey, wait a sec, is there someone there?" As Moon looked closer at the small cage in the corner, he though he could see a small ball of purple fur, but it was hard to make out. "Hello? Dice, do you see what I'm seeing?"

Dice's eyes widened. "Unless we've both been smoking whatever Dude was smoking... I think I'm actually seeing a Mew." She turned to look at Moon. "I _am_ seeing a Mew, right? I mean, I know I'm nuts but... I'm not _that_ crazy, right?"

At the sound of the two voices, the small ball of fur started to move, a tiny arm raised to its head as it rubbed at an eye lazily. Its mouth opened wide in a cute yawn, before it opened its eyes, blinking several times. Moon hesitated for just a moment, afraid of scaring it, when it chirped, "Oh wow! Another two! Hey guys, what's up? How did you get out of the cages?"

Moon stared for a moment, completely floored. The Mew was completely fine? And what did she mean by 'another'? Who else had it seen?

"Oh... we, uh, left ours a day ago..." Dice said. "You seem awfully content with your new body, though..." she coughed. "It... it is a new body, right?"

"I dunno. I don't remember... Hey! Are you guys my friends?" the Mew asked, tilting its head to the side, hovering forward to the bars. "What are your names?"

Moon blinked, looking at Dice for a moment, before replying, "Yeah, sure we'll be your friends! My name's Moonstone, though you can call me Moon. This is Dice. So what's your name?" he asked gently, while he deftly started working on undoing the lock.

"Hi, I'm... Umm..." A flicker of confusion crossed its face as it thought for a moment. "I'm Kaye... I think."

"Well, Kaye, welcome to the herd," Dice beamed. "We're all Pokemon now, so we stick together, right?"

"Now? Umm, okay, if you say so!" it chirped, smiling widely. "So... What is it we're doing?" it asked, watching Moon pick the lock with fascination.

"We're getting you out of this place! It's pretty boring, isn't it?" Moon asked, looking around at the plain cages.

"Weeeeeeell," the Mew replied, holding its tail in its paws as it floated freely in its cage. "Can we have a party or something when we get out? I'm hungry!"

After hearing how the Mew spoke, Moon was willing to hazard a guess that Kaye was female, and answered, "Sure, we'd love to have a party for you later! Hey, I have a question for ya though. Have you seen a young woman by the name of Tia? She's got long, blue-ish-teal hair, usually wears it in a ponytail. Have you seen her, or know what happened to her?"

"I dunno... I only woke up a little while ago. There where people talking, but I wasn't really paying attention, except for this one guy, because he was really weird! He kept saying the most random things, like 'Eeyup!' and 'Nooope!"

Dice looked straight at Moon. "You're going to have a really hard time with her and me once we leave and I go crazy again."

"Meh, it's alright," Moon replied, grinning. "As long as all the chicks we pick up are this cute, I can handle the crazy!" he laughed, before turning serious, adding, "You won't go crazy, alright? I refuse to let my sister go crazy! We'll talk about it later, alright? Promise to let me know if you're going crazy?"

Dice's smile was a bit forced. "Sure, bro... that was real suave, by the way."

"You know it!" he chuckled. Opening the door, he put on his most charming smile, offering his paw to Kaye, saying suavely, "Milady..."

Dice rolled her eyes. "Careful there, Kaye, he's acting way too sure of himself right now."

"Pfft, you're just jealous," Moon retorted, sticking his tongue out at her.

Kaye, however, totally ignored his paw, flying out of the cage swiftly, giggling as she zipped around the room excitedly. "Weeeeee! Thanks a lot, this is so much fun! Come on, aren't you guys gonna join me? It's time to play!"

Dice chuckled. "Well Moon, you've been warned." She looked up at the Mew. "Okay, Kaye, we can play, I would love to! But first, we really need to find Moon's friend, please? Do you know what happened to the other Pokemon that were here?" For some reason Dice couldn't even pout; this little Mew just made her smile... and also made her feel devious again.

Moon started to feel immensely guilty as Kaye sagged in the air, her eyes misting up as she replied sadly, "Alright..." She floated back down to ground level, sighing, as she said slowly, "I... I heard them getting taken away, something about recollecting? Reco... something," she finished, dismissing it with a paw.

Dice giggled as she hugged the Mew. "Moon, she's adorable! Even if she only gave us bad news!"

"Yay! Hugs!" Kaye exclaimed, burrowing her head in Dice's feathers. "Mmm, your feathers are so fluffy..." she cooed.

Moon blinked, before asking numbly, "W-wait a second, did they say 'relocation'?"

"Yeah, sure," came the muffled reply.

"Let's go get them, Moon!" Dice cheered. "I'll take Kaye with me, we'll follow you!"

"Alrighty then! Let's go regroup with everyone else! If they _are_ relocating, we need to find out where, when, and how long they'll be staying at the new location! Let's go!" Moon ordered, leading the way back to meet up with everyone else, a new friend and ally in tow.

"For science!" Dice shouted, following after Moonstone.

"Yeah! For Sky Ants!" the mew girl cheered happily, completely oblivious as to what it was she was supposed to be cheering for.

"Sheee's soooo cuuuute!" Dice giggled madly as they left the warehouse.

.o.O.o.

"Dude... you can't just barge in there," Cassie whispered harshly. "They'll see you and capture you!"

"But... dudette, they are smoking my stash!" Sage whimpered, looking at her with pleading, watery eyes. "My stash! That's high-quality stuff! It's not something you just pick up!"

Cassie rolled her eyes. "Yes, you have said that before."

"Cassie, I say we just pummel them to the ground for breathing and be done with it," Blade whispered. "Why waste time when we can just deal with this?"

"Use your brain, Blade! If we attack them they might sound the alarm!"

"Isn't that what we wanted?" Blade asked.

"No."

They peeked inside the office, where the two men were slowly smoking a joint each.

"They could have just rolled one..." Sage whimpered. "They'll go through it in no time if they waste the good stuff like that!"

"Man..." one of the two men said, making the Pokemon flinch slightly. "This stuff is crap."

"Yeah, man..." the other said, taking an obscenely long puff out of his joint. "I can barely feel it!"

"... it's supposed to be slow build, dude..." Sage whispered, eyebrow twitching.

"I know, right?" the first one said. "It's lacking something, flavor or... I dunno..."

"Yeah... like... I know! You know that stuff that Roger grows in his backyard?"

Sage lowered his head. "That... that's some of the most carefully grown and tended-to weed in the region..." he whispered. "Can't they taste the difference? _Feel_ it?"

"Oh, yeah... the good stuff!" the other man chuckled. "He mixes it with other things... those plants, yeah, now _that_ is quality, not this crap..."

The other blinked. "Hey, whoa... maybe this is not that bad as I thought..."

"Why do you say that?"

"Dude, I just took another whiff and now I can see a glowing Axew!" he said, pointing at a wall.

The other man chuckled and glanced that way. "Man..." he blinked, smiled fading. "I see it too!"

Both looked at each other. "Oh, shit..."

That's when the meteors started falling.

.o.O.o.

"My paws hurt," Solaire said, looking at his sister. "Rub them?"

Luna's left eye threatened to start twitching as she hissed quietly, "Dammit Sol, I swear to Arceus, if I have to tell you to shut up one more time, I... I don't know what I'm going to do! I just can't be held responsible for what I'm going to do to you! Now shut _up_ so I can listen for enemies and information, Sol!"

Solaire sighed as he looked around, careful to peek without revealing too much of himself, just like Luna had instructed. "We... we will find her, right? She won't be taken away by these... monsters..."

"... We're certainly going to try, Sol," Luna answered softly, her eyes softening. "We're going to do our best, and if, Arceus forbid, they get away, we'll follow them to the ends of the earth to get her back, I promise."

Solaire concentrated; he needed to be helpful, somehow, even if he knew his sister was the one that would actually be the most useful. His ears twitched. "Luna... I hear something... a... a tapping sound of some sort..."

Luna's ear twitched as well, but she chose to ignore it. "You concentrate on it then. I'm moving ahead just a little. Yelp like a sissy if you need me," she smirked, teasing her brother as she melted into the shadows, slinking forward slowly.

"Yelp like a sissy if you need me..." Solaire sing-sang as he rolled his eyes. "Honestly, her upbringing was barbaric." He sniffed dismissively as he made his way to where the sound was coming from. Finally, he found himself standing in front of a metal crate with a lock on it. The tapping sound was coming from within.

He carefully tapped the crate.

The tapping from inside stopped.

Solaire blinked, then sniffed around the crate. "What was that about?" He turned and was about to leave when the tapping began again. Three slow taps, three fast ones, three slow ones. A pause. Solaire watched the crate in confusion.

He carefully touched it. When the crate remained solid and did not do anything untoward, Solaire sighed in relief, but quickly removed his paw when the tapping began again. "How rude!" he growled, his tail puffy. "And what's with the tapping?"

The tapping suddenly stopped. "Hello?" the crate called.

Solaire's eyes went wide. "You speak?"

"Yes! I do! Please, good sir, I need help!" the crate exclaimed urgently. "I need you to release me! I have been wrongfully detained and have been given no chance to defend my case!"

Solaire looked at the crate critically. "Well... uh, I'm not sure how you were detained, but... I can't drag a crate around, as I have an urgent mission myself; I must save my trainer."

The crate was silent, then... "You say a Pokemon Trainer is in trouble?"

"Yes," Solaire said. "My sister is scouting ahead, and our- her - friends are releasing the other captives."

"Then you must help me! I will certainly be of assistance!" the crate said.

"I already told you I can't drag a crate around!"

"... I'm _inside_ the crate," the voice said, with a hint of incredulity. "Just... undo the lock."

Solaire's cheeks burned. "Oh, I- I knew that!" He approached the crate and carefully sniffed at the lock. It didn't seem too strong. "This will take just a moment!" He concentrated on the lock and used Crunch.

o-o-o

Solaire used Crunch!

It's super-effective!

The lock is broken!

o-o-o

"Thank you, my friend, I shall remember your help in the future!" A blue Combusken said, stepping out of the crate after opening the door. He looked around. "It seems my rescuer has fled... oh well, I'll just-"

"I'm still here," Solaire deadpanned. "Are you blind?"

The Combusken stared at the Flareon. "I- I am sorry, Flareon, I-" the bird Pokemon stammered. "I never expected to find a talking Pokemon, Flareon or otherwise, no offense."

Solaire sighed. '_I'm really starting to believe the human turned Pokemon thing...'_ he thought. "Whatever, will you help me rescue my Trainer?"

The Combusken nodded, pulling out a top hat and a black eye mask that he proceeded to put on his face, followed by a black cape, effectively hiding his identity. "Lead the way, my friend! Tuxedo Flame is here!" he declared, producing a smooth black cane out of no-where.

Solaire was in awe. "I almost can't recognize you at all!"

"This shall be our secret, my friend!" the Combusken declared valiantly. "I trust you will help keep it!"

Solaire nodded. "Let's go find my sister!"

That's when part of the roof of the warehouse he and Luna had left the others collapsed.

.o.O.o.

Moon jumped in surprise at the loud explosion that echoed throughout the hall, the building shuddering slightly. "Holy crap! What was that?" he exclaimed, now fully alert and ready for trouble.

Luna came running down the hall, panting a little heavily as she shouted, "Part of the building just collapsed! Come on, it's in the direction we left the others!"

"Of course it is!" Moon exclaimed, grunting in aggravation as he turned and started to run after Luna, who was leading the way.

They stopped when they saw the back of the warehouse covered in smoke.

"I... I think I see something!" Dice said as three figures slowly made their way out of the smoke.

"Duuuuuudeeee..." Blade said. "That was... like, awesome, man!"

Cassie, who was giggling slightly, nodded. "It was like... 'woooooaaaahhhh' and then! 'Whooosh'! And then and... and then the glowing!"

Sage, for his part, nodded. "That's the quality stuff talking, dudes... it changes your lives..."

"Duuude, you know what I need right now?" Cassie said, "I feel like... like Pokemon Snacks... you know, something salty... yum..."

Blade patted the Ponyta on the front leg. "Yeeeah! And... jalapeno poppers!"

All three Pokemon stopped at the edge of the smoke, took a deep breath and whispered in awe: "Jalapeno Poppers..."

"I- I think they are okay..." Dice said, slowly drifting forward, towards the smoke.

"Hey, who are they? _Ohmygoodness! _Are they friends too? Can I play with them?" Kaye asked, quickly squirming out of Dice's grasp as she flew forward. "Hey, do you guys wanna play with me?"

Sage peered at the Mew. "Heeeeeey... I knooow you... you farted in my face!"

Kaye blinked, tilting her head in confusion for just a moment, before dismissing the accusation altogether. "So... Is that a yes or a no?"

"Duude... is that a Mew?" Cassie asked, peering at the Mew. "That's like... deep, man! Mew is like, totally the first Pokemon!"

"Moon, is Cassie sinking into the ground through the concrete?" Dice asked Moonstone.

"Bro, bro..." Blade pointed at Cassie. "You _were _right! The world _is_ inconsequential!"

For her part, the Ponyta giggled and stepped up onto the actual floor. "Sorry..."

Moonstone shook his head. "The explosion will have warned them that something is wrong; we have to go now!"

"Right!" Dice said, turning to look at Kaye. "Kaye, can you grab the little Ponyta and bring her with us? I'll take care of the other two! We need to rescue Moon's friend!"

"Yay!" Kaye exclaimed, leaping from the shadows to Cassie's neck, hugging her tightly as she yelled, "Ninja glomp attack!" She grasped the Ponyta firmly, before sliding down her neck. She stood proudly on Cassie's back, proclaiming, "Onward, to glorious battles, my noble steed! Charge!" she squealed happily, posing as she stood atop the lavender equine.

Cassie looked over her shoulder at the Mew. "Duuude, I have a Legendary Pokemon on my back riding me to battle! That, like, _has_ to mean something!"

"Like... totally," Blade said as Dice picked him up in one claw and Sage on the other. "Whoa, dude, _I'm flying!"_

"Dude, duuuude," Sage laughed. "I'm telling you, it's all in your head... there is no up or down... and left or right are only limits to your eternal mind..."

Dice looked at the pair, then turned pleading eyes towards Moonstone. "Moony? Can I get high? It sounds _really _fun."

Moon's eye twitched as he started to imagine the chaos, before yelling, "_No!_ Anything but that! I... That would be..." As he stared at her face, becoming more and more depressed and sorrowful, he groaned, facepawing as he mumbled, "Yeah, sure, later. When we get back home, feel free to explain to mom and dad that you want to get high and see how they like it. They say yes, then sure, knock yourself out..."

"Guys, wait, I think I hear..." Luna shushed, pivoting her ears to better listen. "I think I hear fighting coming from down the hall! Come on!"

.o.O.o.

"Have at thee!" Tuxedo Flame squawked as his cane flew in complicated patterns, disarming two guards of their Pokeballs before they could even call their allies into battle. "In the name of justice, I shall teach you to never underestimate Tuxedo Flame again!"

o-o-o

Tuxedo Flame used Black Cane!

It's Super Effective!

The Guards dropped their Pokeballs!

o-o-o

Solaire jumped on top of a wooden box, jumping up once more to twist in the air as flames contorted around him, before throwing the spinning ring of fire against a Mudkip.

o-o-o

Solaire used Fire Spin!

It's not very effective...

Mudkip used Water Gun!

It's Super Effective!

o-o-o

"Why did I have to fight against the Water Type?" Solaire asked, shaking his mane to get rid of the excess water.

"I don't know, my friend, but you might want to use a non-fire attack against the Mudkip!" Tuxedo Flame instructed as he jumped just in front of the guards and smacking them with precise hits of his cane. The two guards bent over and stood dramatically in one pose before crumbling down, unconscious.

"Easy for you to say!" Solaire growled as two helicopters took off. He looked at them in despair. "I hope Tear wasn't in them!" he concentrated back on the Mudkip as two more grunts ran towards them, throwing their Pokeballs into the air. He growled and prepared to jump at the water Pokemon when a ball of dark energy blasted past him and slammed into the Mudkip, hurling it back with a scream to roll painfully on the floor.

"Pheh, still fighting a little Mudkip? What happened, afraid to get your coat dirty?" Luna commented snarkily as she slid to a stop next to her brother, taking a battle-ready stance to face the new Pokemon. "Come on, let's get this over with! We've got people to save!"

The first Pokemon to materialize was a Vulpix, followed immediately after by a Graveler.

"Graveler!" One of the grunts shouted. "Use... whoa!"

Graveler nodded and glared at Luna readying its attack. After a moment of nothing happening it blinked and looked back to his trainer. "Wait, 'whoa' is not an atta-"

Its eyes widened when he saw both grunts being lifted up by... a Latias.

"Stop! Attacking! My! Friends!" Dice shouted smacking the grunts' heads together with each word.

"Hey!" The Vulpix shouted, shaking a tiny paw at Dice. "That's not how it works! You're supposed to fight us first!"

"Yeah!" The Graveler seconded. "We should fight using techniques to prove which of us is better and the winner takes it all!"

Dice gave them a Half-Lidded-Look-Of-Annoyance©. "Do I look like I care what your inane rules of combat dictate? Do I? I Am a Legendary Pokemon! I care not for your opinion!"

"Hey!" Vulpix cringed. "Stop shaking our humans! They are fragile!"

Dice rolled her eyes and let the two unconscious grunts fall to the floor in a pile.

"Yeah, we know!" Moon commented as he ran up, breathing a little heavily. "Ain't it great?"

Luna nodded her agreement, noting, "Yeah, and it's not like they're permanently damaged by that, so that makes it even better! Great job," she added begrudgingly to the Latias, who was looking rather grim.

Dice started gathering energy in her mouth as she glared at the unconscious humans. ~Fragile? Well, let's see how they fare after this!~ her thoughts echoed in everyone's mind (save Luna's, since she's a Dark type).

Moon watched as she started gathering power in her mouth, and wasn't sure if he should be worried of the impending attack, or start preparing himself to collapse laughing again if it failed, while Luna looked a little impressed, before she remembered the incident with the door. 'Oh _this_ isn't going to end well, I know it...'

A ball of gray energy shot out of Dice's mouth, much bigger than anything she had produced before, perhaps fueled by her anger, it sped straight onto the unconscious humans.

With a cry of fear, Graveler jumped in the way, the sphere slamming onto his back with tremendous force, causing an explosion that raised smoke and dust into the air. When it slowly settled, the Pokemon itself was also unconscious and badly injured, with cracks running down its body. It had fortunately landed next to the humans, or it would have crushed them to death.

Moon and Luna were both flabbergasted at Dice's attack, surprised that it had not only worked, but managed to knock out the Graveler. "Well, color me impressed," Moon stated simply, blinking more than was necessary. "That actually worked..."

"And worked well," Luna continued, turning slightly to look at the Vulpix from the side. "Your masters are knocked out, and are unable to battle. Do you still demand we fight, even against such odds?"

Vulpix's eyes watered. "But... but... but we were going to go to the beach!" she said, falling to her knees. "And as soon as I evolved, he was going to propose!"

Kaye gasped, flying around erratically as she squealed, "That's so romantic! I wonder how he was gonna do it?"

Solaire stared at the Vulpix in confusion. "We are still talking about the human, right?"

Vulpix nodded. "I-I was going to marry him!" she bawled.

"But... he's a human!" the Flareon explained again.

"I don't care! I love him!"

"Duude... all you need is love," Sage said, walking up to them. "Species, gender, age, solar-cycle? Those are references made by mere mortals who do not understand the great beyond..."

Solaire blinked and mouthed _'the great beyond'?_ incredulously as the Vulpix looked at the Axew in confusion.

"The great beyond? What's that? You mean tomorrow?" Kaye asked innocently. "Come on, silly, don't you know? ~Tomorrow is another day!~" She exclaimed in a song-song voice, before collapsing into a giggling fit.

"Wha- what do you mean?" the Vulpix asked the little dragon.

"Dudette... you shouldn't fret..." Sage said, nodding. "The limit is only in your mind... you have to let him know, because... duuude... if you don't, it's like... like the sun not coming up, you know?"

Vulpix nodded to the surprise of everyone present, with the exception of Sage. "I... I see..."

The Axew shook his head. "You don't see yet, dudette... what you have to do... is make him yours..."

Solaire started choking on his saliva while Vulpix's eyes grew wide. "You... you mean..."

Sage nodded sagely.

With a blush, the Vulpix slowly made her way to her trainer, grabbed the shoulder of his uniform with her teeth and slowly pulled him away from the battlefield and behind the buildings.

"Should... should we stop her?" Dice asked after a moment.

"No... duuude... they found love... let them go together to the beach, have her take care of him and nourish their trust in each other..." Sage said.

"I... don't think that's what she thought you meant..." Solaire murmured, looking a bit green.

"It doesn't matter, dude!" Blade said, stumbling up to them. "We can't forget the helicopters!"

"Yes..." Dice frowned. "Let's forget what just happened."

"But-" Solaire protested.

"It NEVER happened!" Dice growled and the Flareon nodded quickly.

"Ever," Moon added, shaking slightly as well, closing his eyes tightly for a moment, shaking his head as he tried to get rid of the mental visual he had been so unfortunate to see. "Y-yeah, let's just... _Crap!_ The helicopters!" he exclaimed, standing up straight, his tail going stiff from shock. "We've got to move! They're probably heading out already! Come on, we've got to rescue Tear!"

"Right!" Luna agreed, swiftly turning around as she started to lead the way, running as fast as she could.

"Let's get them!" Dice shouted as she followed them, with Solaire and Tuxedo Flame following behind.

"We should also go..." Blade said, starting to trot after them.

Sage nodded absently as a purple Mew giggled and followed the others. He raised an eyebrow as Cassie emerged from behind a building, looking sightly ill.

"You okay, dudette? You aren't feeling bad because of my stuff, are you?"

Cassie shuddered. "I- I just saw..." she shuddered again. "I don't want to talk about it." She staggered past the Axew, who shrugged as he followed the group.

.o.O.o.

"There's only one left!" Dice shouted as she flew ahead. "We have to stop it!"

"Tear!" Solaire shouted. "Tear, can you hear me? It's Solaire! Are you there?"

Blade tried running faster. "We're not going to make it!"

The helicopter had already started its ascension, and the group could barely make out the figures inside. Pokemon and humans stared out at them grimly as it took off.

"No! We need to know where she is!" Solaire shouted, charging an attack.

"Sol, stop!" Luna shouted as she tackled her brother, barely in time as his Flamethrower attack flew to the left of the helicopter, scorching the ceiling as a table burst into flame. "Don't be an idiot, Sol! We can't rescue Tear if you blow up the helicopter she's riding on!"

"But they're escaping!" Solaire growled, shaking her off. "We can't let the last one go!"

"But what else can we do? We have no way of stopping it without blowing it up!" Moon argued, thinking frantically of a way to stop the last helicopter as its blades whirled faster and faster, starting to take off. 'Think, I can do this! I just have to try to freeze it, maybe? I mean, the most I did before was a wind, but maybe I... can...'

The group watched the last helicopter sped away.

Moon sunk to his knees, shaking his head as he berated himself, 'I spent too much time just thinking! I... I failed...'

"Damn it!" Dice growled. "I should've blasted them!"

Blade shook his head. "You know that might kill everyone in there, like Luna said."

"But what now?" Dice asked, descending to put a paw on Solaire's back.

The Flareon was shaking with anger and barely hid tears. He pressed his head to Dice's body as the Latias sighed and rubbed his back.

"There are some grunts that were left behind, and we can find some information from the stuff that they didn't take..." Cassie said after a moment.

Dice sighed. "Well... it's better than nothing." She patted Solaire on the head. "Come on, let's find out what we can... and then we can go find Tear."

"Yeah, for Simons!" Kaye cheered, trailing behind her new group of friends, not noticing how depressed and dejected they all seemed...

.o.O.o. End Chapter 5 .o.O.o.


	6. Chapter 6

**A New World: Chapter 6**

**By**

**WYLD STALLYNZ**

o.O.o

"!on si rewsna eht, em ot od uoy tahw erac t'nod I" The man shouted.

"Stop talking backwards!" Lati replied, shaking the poor human again. "Gah, can someone teach me how to use 'Psychic' correctly?"

"!wonk t'nod yllaer I !eromyna em ekahs t'nod esaelP"

"Uh, what if he doesn't know, Dice?" Cassie asked, blinking at the the Latias, who was holding the human grunt high above the others.

"Told you, just call me Lati from now on," Lati growled, looking away from her prisoner for a second. "And that's nonsense, everyone knows that a random grunt will always have highly secret information that should only be available to their superiors. That's how things work." She turned her eyes to the grunt. "Now, I'm going to ask one more time and I am going to use Psychic again on you, and you are going to reply. Understood?"

"!soireehc ni deirf-peed gnieb si niarb ym ekil sleef ti taht od uoy emit yrevE !ycrem evaH !esaelP !on ,esaelP" The grunt begged, sobbing desperately.

Lati gave him a kind look. "I don't understand a word you are saying. Sorry. But make sure to tell me later what it feels like to have your brain deep-fried in cheerios." Her eyes lit up with ethereal blue flames and the man screamed.

"Shouldn't someone... you know, stop her? This is getting out of hand," Blade asked, shivering as the human screamed.

"Now, where did they take them?!" Lati demanded.

" jIH yImev Sov jaH DoH mej jIH mob!"

"The hell?" Lati shook her head. "I thought I had it right this time!" She gave an exasperated sigh as she tossed the man down onto a bunch of crates.

"Yay! Does that mean it's my turn to play with him? Is it is it is it?!" Kaye asked excitedly, bobbing around the room excitedly, flying in circles.

"Do you think I should give it a try?" Moon asked Luna hesitantly, glancing at the man in worry. "Part of me says that I couldn't make it any worse, but what are the odds of my making it any better?"

Luna turned to Kaye, hollering, "No, not yet! Geeze, go... Play with those computers or something! Gosh," she muttered, massaging her forehead with a free paw. "If she's how the first Mew acted, it's a wonder how any of us were born, or created, or whatever..." Looking over to Moonstone, she sighed, frowning for a moment before nodding. "Yeah, sure, why not? Even if you don't make it better, maybe you'll learn how to use your powers or something, and some result is better than nothing. Just treat it like another experiment!" she finished happily, getting up eagerly.

"Well, alright then. Here goes," Moon muttered, walking over to the near-unconscious man. He focused on the man, before he slumped over, blacking out. "... Well, that's just FUNDERFUL now isn't it?" Moon muttered darkly to himself, kicking a loose rock on the way back to Luna.

"Duuuude, you just have to relaaax," Sage said. "It's like, the universe... conspires to help, you know? Like when you turn on the lights, but they don't go on because, you know, something... and then, it turns out that if they had you would be, like, totally dead."

"What-" Lati dragged her palm down her face. "Why do you say that stuff, really? I mean, it can't be just because you're high, right? It has to come from somewhe-"

"Yay! The computer is doing something!" Kaye shouted in glee. "Now I can watch the newest episode of My Little Ponyta!" she giggled, clapping her paws happily.

"What?!" Moonstone exclaimed, rushing over to the computer, absently shoving Kaye out of the way, sending her spinning through the air.

"Wheeeeeeeeeee! Spin me faster, spin me faster!" Kaye cheered, before being interrupted by Moon.

"How did you... What was the password?! What did you type in?"

"Oh, you know, words! First I tried to look up Twilight Spark, and the computer was all 'Bzzt', and then I was like, 'Okay Mr. Meanie Head McMeanie Pants! Lemme look up what a Black Snooty is!' and the computer was all 'Brrtz', and then I was like 'Well FINE! Be that way, you great, big, Jerky McJerk face!' and I typed in a search of Celest's Banana cannon thing, and poof! It worked!"

Moon and Luna looked at each other, struggling to follow what the purple hyperactive Mew had explained, not understanding what she just said in the slightest. "Uhh..."

"So... let me get this straight," Lati said. "The password was 'Banana Cannon?'" She groaned. "Well, Moon? Is there anything in there other than porn?"

"Porn? Is that an abbreviation for popcorn? I LOVE popcorn! Gimme!" Kaye exclaimed, shooting for the computer.

"NO!" Moonstone exclaimed, quickly hitting the 'home' button on the keyboard. "No, it's uh... Umm... Lati!" Moon exclaimed, glancing to her in desperation. "Why don't you go down the hall and buy some popcorn from that vending machine we passed, and make us some treats?"

"Are you sure you don't want to share the one in the computer?" Lati asked. "I mean, it's there already, right?" she grinned.

"Duuude... sharing the love is like, nirvana, man..." Sage nodded at the group. "There should be, like, no _limits_ you know... the love is there, bro, we just need to let it flow..."

"Love is _always_ throbbing, ain't that right, Dude?" Lati asked.

"Hallway. Now," Cassie ordered as she walked past Lati, blushing. "And don't talk about that around Kaye."

"Hey, you sound an awful lot like Twilight Spark!" Kaye giggled, hovering around Cassie for a moment, before gasping in shock. "Ohmygoodness! You ARE Twilight Spark! Ohmygosh! You even look like her and... Oh WOW! Can I have your autograph?! Where's Dashie?!" the little Mew asked passionately, hovering right in front of the ponyta with large, begging eyes, threatening to water.

Lati blinked and hovered down to float in front of Cassie. "You know, she's right. You do look like a goth vampire ponyta fooler."

Cassie's eyes started burning with inner flames. "You watched that show, Lati? I didn't know I was hanging out with a Ponysister."

Lati's eyebrow shot up. "Oh, and how do _you_ know the term?"

"Guys, can we get food?" Blade interrupted. "I've got the munchies."

"Fine," Lati sighed. "Come on, Kaye, let's get some popcorn while uncle Moony backs-up the porn."

"Yay! Porn!" Kaye giggled, flying after Lati.

Moonstone opened his mouth, before letting his head drop unceremoniously onto the keyboard, letting out a long, deep sigh. "She was right... She warned me, and I didn't believe her..."

"Right about what?" Luna asked, hopping up next to Moonstone, trying to comfort him by leaning against him.

Accepting the companionship, Moon leaned against her as well, before typing away rapidly on the keyboard, deleting folder after folder of worthless or otherwise inappropriate material. "Good grief, how much crap is on here?" he muttered, searching folder after folder.

Several minutes later, he was confident that he had deleted all of the porn, but that still left many more to search more thoroughly.

The vending machine suddenly flew through the door, smashing into pieces on the other side of the room.

"I brought dinner!" Lati announced, following after the machine.

"Porn!" Kaye shouted, digging out instant popcorn from the machine.

Cassie glared at Lati. "Do you realize how awkward it's going to be taking Kaye anywhere now?"

Lati shrugged. "Eh, she'll get over it."

"Guys, heads up," Blade suddenly warned. "We have visitors!"

The group turned towards the entrance, where a group of Pokemon had gathered behind a Vulpix.

"There he is!" she exclaimed, pointing at Sage. "The One! The visionary!"

Lati blink-blinked as the group of five Pokemon, four females and one male gathered adoringly around the Axew. "Wait... what?

"Oh, Great One!" The Vulpix knelt in front of Sage. "I have spread your message to the other Pokemon that shared similar feelings for their trainers; thank you for opening our eyes!"

Lati face-palmed.

"Thank you for teaching us that we have to take love in our own paws!" A Growlithe said.

"My master and I are now joined in ways we never imagined!" The male Machoke added, eyes glistening with thankfulness.

"Duudes..." Sage sighed, nodding at the gathered Pokemon with a smile. "_Love_ is like, the super-glue of the universe, you know? It... _binds us,_ and the more we spread it, the more the universe is like, awesome..." his eyes went wide as his short arms opened, seeming to encompass the room and beyond. "You have discovered it, and that, bro, that is just... it's just... like, duuuuude, you know?"

"Oh, Great One," the Vulpix gushed. "How can I ever repay you? My master was startled at first, but once I-"

"Okay, okay..." Lati interrupted. "No need for details..."

"Yay! Love!" Kaye whistled past Lati to float around the group of Pokemon. "I _love_ love! Can I also love too? Can I be the second in command? Please? Pleeease?"

"Or the mascot," Lati suggested.

"Suuure..." Sage replied. "Dude, it's like, you know... Meeew... and she's like, whoa! Like, love, man! And she's like, the first Pokemon, and imagine all the loving she needed to make that many more Pokemon... dude, it's like... LOVE, you know, not little love, it's like, totally BIG love..."

Lati floated up to Moonstone and Luna. "Hey Moony, aren't you even slightly disturbed by all of this?"

"Hmm..." Moonstone pondered as he kept typing at the computer, only half paying attention. "Well, I've given up on trying to figure out anything that Dude does, and Kaye is free to do whatever she wants. Not like we have any particular responsibility for her, and as long as she's not doing anything inappropriate, what's wrong with letting her have some fun?"

"Moon, she's just a kid. With how she's acting, she can't be more than, like, six in human years. You're seriously saying you'd let a child make their own decisions?" Luna asked, ears drooping slightly in disappointment.

"Well... Huh... Didn't think about that," Moon admitted, looking at the floating purple Mew, who was cheerfully floating around, cheering on the other Pokemon. "But... She only wants to help... Do _you_ really want to be the one to explain things to her, and make her lose her innocence? That's the one thing that makes children children. Their imagination and innocence, willing only to see the best in everything. After being turned into a Pokemon, she's carefree and happy. Do you want to change all of that? It just... Doesn't seem fair. Yeah, fine, we can try to supervise her, but I refuse to be the one to take away what little joy she may have left in the world."

Luna observed the Mew a moment longer, before sighing, leaning back against Moonstone absently, eyes starting to glaze over the longer she looked at the screen.

"Fine, I'll explain the Pidgeys and the Beedrills to Kaye," Lati sighed. "Might as well, if someone else did she might end up with a complex and reject the fun aspects of it."

"Reject the what now?!" Moonstone replied, spinning his head around, his eyes wide and his face burning. "Y-you... that... Don't encourage her! She's just a kid, damn!"

"What does that mean?" Kaye asked, popping up behind Moonstone.

While Moonstone jumped five feet into the air, taken by surprise at the sudden appearance of the Mew in question, Luna answered quickly, "He wasn't done talking! He was saying, umm... That dams are too complicated to talk about right now! Yeah!"

"Look, Kaye," Lati started. "There comes a point in life when two pokemon really, _really_ like each other, and if they _really_ like other pokemon as well, they all get together... but that's a bit more advanced; take Luna and Moon for example..."

"What?!" Luna and Moon burst out at the same time, both slightly red in the face. They glanced at each other before looking away in a huff, continuing, "We are NOT a 'thing'! I mean, come on, don't be preposterous! An inventor and his pokemon? Come on! What would everyone else think?"

"Y-yeah," Luna continued, looking away. "What would everyone else think?" she echoed, her eyes spacing off a little.

"Well, that would depend if we get to watch, Luna," Lati grinned.

"Watch what?" Kaye asked.

Luna froze up, her ears shooting straight up as her face darkened heavily, unable to come up with a coherent reply. Moonstone, however, was oblivious to her reaction as he snapped, "Lati, would you _please_ stop acting like a child?! We're supposed to be an example to Kaye on how to act, not teach her to be lewd!"

"Lewd? Come on, stop using words I don't know and stuff. I don't know what you're talking about!" Kaye objected. Huffing, she stuck out her tongue, floating off back to Sage, complaining, "You guys aren't fun anymore, so there! I'm going back to my _fun_ friends who have porn!" She floated a bowl of popcorn over to herself, munching a pawful aggressively, before becoming cheerful once more.

Lati chuckled and floated next to Luna. "Hey, sorry about that, I was just teasing," she whispered. "But... seriously, it's kinda obvious. Think about it." She then flew off after Kaye.

Moonstone opened his mouth, glanced to Luna for a second, before closing it and looking away, a light blush across his muzzle. "W-whatever, I have science to find! On the... computer thing! Yeah..."

Moonstone fell into an embarrassed silence as he started searching the folders, looking for possible keywords that might be relevant. "Vacations? No... Travel Expenses? Maybe... Recent Expenditures?"

"You could always try requesting for the information in the search bar or something," Luna suggested absently, starting to clean her face.

"... I knew that," Moonstone answered sullenly, typing in several new commands. "Let's see, relocation of Harburg labs... Relocated to the Orange Islands off of Kanto region? Great, that's like two regions over! Of course they couldn't just move nearby, they've got to move to another bloody continent! Let's see, access files of... What? Oh come on, don't give me that inaccessible crap! It's in a stand alone computer? That's not fair!"

"Life's not fair, get used to it," Luna advised. "So we know where the main computer is, so all we have to do is go there and bust in, right?"

"Yeah! That sounds like _my_ kinda plan! Kick the door down, kick ass, take what we need and maybe take names later!" Blade grinned, slamming a fist into his open palm and then cracking his knuckles. "But... the Orange Islands are very far away... how are we getting there? Airplane ride?"

"Good question... It's not like we can just hop on any plane we want to, not without a trainer, and even then, they don't like having to deal with 'pets', and especially with how many of us there are. We know from earlier, thanks to my dad, that Pokeballs don't really work on us, so unless he can figure out how to modify them, we'll have to travel there on foot. Err, paw, whatever." Moonstone replied, scratching his head.

"How about we just travel there?" Lati asked, floating up to them with an unconscious Kaye in her arms. "She ate too much candy and passed out." She explained at the looks. "But anyway, Moon, unless we can all get into some sort of vehicle, we'll have to somehow make our way there by foot. Or wings, in my case."

"Yeah... Well... I guess we should head back home, then. I'm not seeing any other useful information on this computer, and if we're going to bring this to the authority's attention, we need more proof than this little computer can give us. Ugh, this is going to take a lot of planning," Moonstone complained, jumping back down to the ground.

"Finally! I've been looking all over for you! I thought you had been taken again!" Mr. Scifo exclaimed, bursting into the room, panting heavily.

"Finally, the cavalry arrives," Lati chuckled. "I just wish we could communicate more effectively." She turned to look at Moonstone. "Hey, Moon, how about we go back to your place? I don't think there's much else we can find here. And we need a plan."

"Yeah, might as well. No point in hanging around here any longer, though uh... Dude? Whatever your name is, we're not bringing your uh... followers. They'll have to stay behind."

"Erm, what's going on?" Mr. Scifo asked, looking back and forth between the pokemon present.

"How to explain..." Lati mused. Then she smiled and beckoned Mr. Scifo to the computer, where she typed: "The information we need is in another place. We need a plan."

"Duuude," Sage nodded. "I have taught them what I can; the rest, it's like, dude, they'll get it when they free their spirits from the constraining force of the system, my friend... like, totally."

"We will, oh, great one!" the Vulpix said, eyes shimmering with tears of gratitude. "We will spread the word, like the seed that–"

"Yeah, well, you do that," Blade interrupted. "But not here. Go... now."

"One of the chosen prophets has spoken!" Another pokemon shouted. "Let's go!"

"We're... prophets now?" Blade blinked.

"I... guess," Luna answered, trying to comprehend.

"Dibs! Dibs, totally calling dibs on 10 percent of their tithes!" Kaye muttered for a moment before falling asleep again.

"Yeah, whatever, just so long as I don't have to actually instruct them or anything, or forgive their sins or whatever all else might happen, kay?" Moonstone commented, sighing. "Now let's get home. I think some food will help all of us relax and think more clearly. No sense in trying to plan on an empty stomach!"

"Sins are in your head dude," Sage nodded sagely. "It's the imposition of centuries of–"

Latias held her hand over the axew's mouth. "Okay, so... food? Planning? Travelling? Sounds good! Let's go back to your place and move the story along!"

.o.O.o.

"MOONSTONE SCIFO, YOU GET YOUR FURRY BUTT IN HERE LIKE A PROPER HOST OR I'M TAKING AWAY YOUR INTERNET FOR A WEEK!" Mrs. Scifo screamed into the living room, before turning back around at her somewhat stunned audience. "What? It's not like the news is going anywhere, and it's rude to leave our guests alone if they need help!"

"Yeah, because Luna can't help them find anything if they really needed it, right," Moonstone grumbled, having turned off the news he was trying to watch.

"What was that, mister?" his mom hissed, narrowing her eyes at him.

Moonstone blinked, trying to figure out how she knew what he said, before remembering that she could still hear his tone of voice, and thus her 'mom sense' didn't need to know _what_ was said, only _how_ it was said. Taking a seat at the table next to Luna, he muttered, "Nothing..."

"Yay! Food!" Lati whirled in the air before settling down. "I'm starving! Who knew shaking grunts to death could make you so hungry?!"

"Dude, I remember the last time I got the shakes..." Sage spoke up.

"Did you die?" Lati asked.

"Duuude, I was like, gone, man. Like totally out of my body. I think I saw Deoxys... it was, like, tubular... and the universe opened up..." Sage's eyes were wide. "It was like I was a muffin inside a pancake inside a chair."

Blade blinked. "I have no idea of how that could even possibly feel."

"A muffin, inside a pancake inside a chair," Lati repeated, then started singing: "One of these things is not like the others..."

"Even if it were," Blade snapped. "How can you even imagine that feeling!?"

"Oh! Oh! I know this one!" Kaye said excitedly, floating around the room randomly. "It's the chair, right?!"

"A very astute observation," Blade grumbled.

"Yayifications! I'm so smart! Let's play again, again!" Kaye cheered, grinning widely as she latched onto Mrs. Scifo's head.

"Dear, you're going to get in the way if you stay on my head like that," Mrs. Scifo chided gently. "It's harder to balance and serve food if you don't move."

"But it, it's fun up here!"

"Come on kid," Lati spoke up. "We're all waiting for our poke-chow!"

"She's... not going to feed us Poke-chow, is she?" Cassie asked, nervously looking at Moonstone. "I mean... I know I'm a Pokemon now, but..."

"... You guys really think I feed Luna Poke-chow? Really? Are you TRYING to insult me?" Moonstone asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Pokemon can eat normal food too, you know. Most trainers just choose Poke-chow because it has vitamins and minerals, yada yada yada. My dad invented a juice substitute that could be added to water that gives Luna what she needs, so that she can eat regular food too. Found out that Poke-chow doesn't... really taste all that great, but lots of Pokemon put up with it because that's all they're offered, aside from a few berries here and there."

"So, no Poke-chow! Awesome!" Lati smiled. "Being a Legendary Dragon-type, I think my diet consists of some sort of meat. And beer."

"Beer sounds good," Blade nodded. "I just wish there was a way we could communicate this to our hosts... since Moonstone cannot speak to them..."

_~Yeah, because I can't just, you know, write or type out what we want,~_ Moonstone thought sarcastically, rolling his eyes. "You know, I-"

"You should, you know," Lati said, not looking at him and keeping her eyes on Mrs. Scifo. "Type it, I mean. Would save me time from doing it myself!"

_~Did she just... Nah...~_ Moonstone blinked, then shrugged. "Fine, whatever. I guess I'll be right back, then." _~Since I'm sure everyone would yell at me for asking Luna to get it, or something.~_

"Geez, if it's such a big deal I'll go get it," Blade muttered. "Where is it?"

Moonstone paused, looking back up to the table he had just leaped from. "Huh? If what's a big deal? I said I'd be right back." _~Something wrong with his hearing?~_

"No, you just keep whining about sending Luna to get your computer," Blade growled. "You've been complaining all along!"

"What the hell are you talking about?" Luna interjected heatedly, turning to give Balde a death-glare. "He hasn't been complaining! Take that back!"

"Well... he has..." Lati spoke up, turning to look at the three pokemon. "He started complaining that he could just write what we wanted... then it was the one about how we'd all yell at him if he asked Luna to get the laptop–"

"And then you said I had bad hearing!" Blade added, frowning at Moonstone.

"... I never _said_... _any_ of what you guys just accused me of," Moonstone said flatly, though his mind was racing.

"Yeah, I think I would have heard him grumbling, considering he was, you know, sitting right next to me," Luna added, still glaring at their guests.

Lati stared at Luna for a second. Then her gaze floated to Moonstone. She smirked. "Oh... this... this is precious. Come on, Moon... do the math..."

Moonstone blinked, thought for several moments, before he mouthed 'no'. _~... You guys are a bunch of assholes...~_

"Well, that's rude," Cassie muttered.

"MOONSTONE XELLIUS SCIFO, WATCH YOUR LANGUAGE!" Mrs. Scifo yelled from the other room, taking some food out of the oven. After several seconds of silence, however, Moonstone jumped when he heard glass shattering in the kitchen. "Daren?! Can you come here, honey?!"

"One minute, darling!" Mr. Scifo shouted down from the lab. "I'm almost done here, is it important?"

"... I don't know! I'm hearing things, does that count as important?"

"Um, what sort of things, dear?" came the reply. "I'm doing something terribly important right now, so unless you're hearing voices in your head, I think it might just be your imagination!"

"I need comforting, Daren, so Arceus help me, get your butt up here and keep me sane before I come down there and-!"

_~Geeze, mom, chill. It's not like I finally figured out how to use some of my psychic powers to talk directly to you or something crazy like that!~_ Moonstone thought as his mother slowly turned to see him sitting on the counter, smiling as smug as a catterpie in a rug, tail wrapped around his forepaws. _~... I can has hug naow?~_

Amidst Mrs. Scifo's screaming, Lati couldn't help but hug Moonstone. "I knew you were somehow really my brother!"

_~No! Hug from mom, not from you! Quit it, Sissy!~_ Moonstone thought quickly, before Lati started to scratch behind his ears, effectively shutting him up.

"There is no escaping the ear-scratch attack!" Lati chuckled.

"Scratch attack!"

Luna leaped forward, foreleg extended as she slashed Lati's arms, causing her to yelp and drop Moonstone. "Oops, I'm sorry, Lati. Habits die hard," Luna simpered, before starting to clean her claws delicately.

Lati's eyes became watery as she looked from the scratch marks to Luna, then back to the scratch marks. She whimpered. Then she sniffed and floated slowly back before tears started to roll down her cheeks. "B-but I was... I was just s-scratching his ear..." her lower lip trembled. "What did I do wrong?"

"... Luna, bedroom, now," Moonstone said shortly, staring at the Umbreon. "Lati, just... Clean the cuts, I'll be back in a minute..."

"So, what did I miss?" Mr. Sifo asked, walking out of the basement and looking around.

"Dude," Sage spoke up. "There was nothing to miss man, the world is always full of stuff... it's like... a soda drink, man; you can see the bubbles, and even the ones you don't keep bubbling away."

Lati was going to say something to that, but the sound of muffled yelling from upstairs made everyone go silent. It continued for a little while, and Mr. Scifo looked at his wife with some concern. When she shook his head, he frowned, but soon after the yelling stopped.

In the silence that followed, a small _ding_ sounded, causing Mrs. Scifo to jump, hurrying back to the oven. While she fussed over the food, Lati heard Moonstone ask, ~Hey, Lati, can you come up for a minute? Need to talk to you.~

Lati stole a glance around the room before slowly making her way up the stairs. When she saw Moonstone, she hovered a bit, before arching an eyebrow. "What's up?"

Moonstone stepped aside, revealing a miserable-looking Luna. "H-hey... I'm sorry for..." Luna swallowed hard, staring at the floorboards, only managing to glance up enough to see Lati floating in front of her. "... Sorry for scratching you, and for... for being mean. M'sorry..."

Lati blinked. Then suddenly felt terribly guilty. "I uh... it's fine, Luna... I-I don't mind, it wasn't that bad, really."

She turned to look at Moonstone and grimaced. "I'm really not sure what to do other than that, Moon... I mean... I'm kinda pushy. I can see why Luna would get annoyed with me."

Moonstone looked between them, before sighing. "I... Look, we need to set some boundary rules, alright? Just because I'm cat-like doesn't mean you can just treat me like one and pet me or scratch me whenever you want. I never even did that with Luna, and we couldn't even talk to each other then! So we need to work something out, alright?"

.o.O.o.

Mr. Scifo looked up as his son, his adoptive daughter and Luna walked into the basement, where his computer had produced a holographic image of a Pokeball's blueprint.

"Ah! You're finally here! Good!" he said, motioning for the late additions to step closer. "As you can see, I have devised a plan that will let you travel the land unhindered."

Lati tilted her head while looking at the blueprints. "Uh... Moon, I have no idea how that is a plan. At all."

"Well, let's see..." Moonstone said to himself, hopping up to get a better look. His tail swayed slowly as he pawed through the files, mumbling to himself absently. "Hmm, yeah, that could... No, that's just stupid... this one looks... interesting, but..."

"Is it just me, or is there an echo in here?" Lati asked, blinking in confusion when she heard a feminine voice repeat what she said. Mostly. "Except echoes are supposed to say the same thing you did. I am confused."

"Echoes have the property... of... Hey, you're right," Luna broke off, looking around. "Did we leave a PA system on or something? Is Gracie trying to call us?"

"No," Mr. Scifo said suddenly, a smile spreading on his face. "It just means that it works!"

"Well, that's something that's going right, at least," Moonstone commented, still sifting through the papers. "Think you can reverse engineer that so that the others can talk English, or is that going to be a lot more complicated? Also, dibs on a small island."

"What? Wait, you... That's amazing!" Luna cheered, tackling Moonstone, gently, hugging him tight.

"I'm lost," Lati said. "I feel very, very lost."

"Dude, you're not lost, like... ever, mon; the whole world might look like a confusing place, but, it's like, dude... when Ho-Oh flies around and you're like, whoa, mon! Was that really like, a giant bird of fire? But... yeah man, Ho-Oh is never lost, because she knows, man. She knows."

"She knows what?" Blade asked, instantly regretting it.

"She knows who she is, mon. And, dude, if she knows who she is, how can she be lost? Because if you know who you are and that you're where you are, then how can you not know where that is?"

Lati took Mr. Scifo's hand. "Please. Save me."

"Come on, Moonstone, we talked about this," Mr. Scifo sighed impatiently, tapping his foot. "You can't call dibs on a private island until you're 21!"

"But _daaaad_, I _am_ 21 now! Technically, I'm roughly 39 now, so... Gimme! I called dibs! You can't go back on dibs!"

"Yeah! Everyone knows about the universal Dibs Protocol!" Luna added, defending her master automatically.

"And the No-Take-Backs Accord!" Kaye added helpfully, excited to be contributing.

"... I'll talk it over with your mom, but don't count on it. We MIGHT consider your own house, but not your own island, not yet! You would never come vist!" Mr. Scifo opposed, his arms crossed.

"What are you guys talking about?" Blade shouted, obviously exasperated.

"Every time we make a new patent, everyone in the family gets to choose something to splurge a little bit of money on, like a new kitchen appliance, piece of furniture, stuff like that. Ever since he was seven, Moonstone has been dead set on getting his own island for... some reason I don't even know, because he won't tell anyone." Mr. Scifo explained.

"Oh, okay, I get it!" Lati said, nodding. "But what I don't get is... how can you understand us?"

Moonstone grinned at his 'sister', purring. "... Okay, Lati, you made fun of me before, so now it's my turn! Use your brain... What did... Luna say at the beginning? You know, that part about... about patents?"

"I'm sure I don't know, but it sounded something like: yay," Lati deadpanned.

"Moon, that was dad who said that, not me."

Moonstone, however, wasn't paying attention to either of them. His eyes were following a moving light on the ground, his tail twitching slightly as he followed it avidly, slowly getting up, crouching back down to chase the light. "Gottagettheshinything..." he mumbled to himself.

Lati looked at Luna and grimaced. "I really, really want to say something... but I get the feeling that I might piss him off."

"I don't know, he looks really focused to me," Blade commented, looking at the Espeon's eyes.

"... Okay, this is freaking me out," Luna mumbled, backing up an inch or two. "I... I'm going to regret this, but... Go ahead, I guess... Oh Arceus, I regret it already," Luna moaned, facepawing.

"I-" Lati hesitated. "No... it's not worth it. Anyway... so... Mr. Scifo can now understand us. How does that help us? I mean, we could just type away on the computer."

Mr. Scifo smiled. "Here's where it gets interesting," he said, typing away at the keyboard. New schematics came up, but also an entry on Latias and Latios. He scrolled down until he seemed to find what he was looking for. Grinning, he highlighted it and motioned for the gathered Pokemon to take a closer look.

Lati's eyes widened. "Wait... are you thinking what I'm thinking?"

"That... Wait, so that..." Luna looked back and forth between the blueprints and the screen, her eyes growing wide. "You want us to be her partners while she masquerades as a human?!"

"Who did what now?" Moonstone asked, blinking as he looked back to the screen, the 'shiny light' having disappeared.

"Wee! We can turn into humans?!" Kaye exclaimed, nearly plastering herself to the screen to read. "Yayifications! Can I turn into anything?! Oh! Cool, I can turn into one of the characters from My Little Ponyta! _This is so awesome!_"

"This has all the likelihood of ending in disaster," Lati stated, eyes narrowing for a second before she smiled. "When do we start?"

Mr. Scifo raised an eyebrow. "Once you learn to do it."

Blaze sighed. "I get the feeling I should go stock up in beers. This'll take a while."

Lati grinned manically. "For the chance of getting the lot of you into Pokeballs? Mon, you won't have to wait long."

End Chapter 6


End file.
